{{Short description|Island in Jefferson County, New York, United States}} {{Infobox islands | name = Association Island | native_name = | native_name_link = | native_name_lang = | image_name = AssociationIsland.jpg | image_size = 250px | image_caption = Association Island | image_alt = | map = New York | map_alt = | map_width = 250px | map_caption = Location of Association Island in New York State | map_relief = | label = | label_position = | coordinates = {{coord|43.895|-76.215|type:isle_region:US-NY|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | etymology = | location = Lake Ontario | waterbody = | area_acre = 65 | area_footnotes = | length_mi = <!-- or |length_ft= --> | length_footnotes = | width_mi = <!-- or |width_ft= --> | width_footnotes = | coastline_mi = <!-- or |coastline_ft= --> | coastline_footnotes = | elevation_ft = 249 | elevation_footnotes = <ref name=GNIS>{{cite GNIS|942652|Association Island|September 26, 2015}}</ref> | country = United States | country_admin_divisions_title = State | country_admin_divisions = New York | country_admin_divisions_title_1 = County | country_admin_divisions_1 = Jefferson | country_admin_divisions_title_2 = Town | country_admin_divisions_2 = Henderson | website = | additional_info = }}
'''Association Island''' is a {{convert|65|acre|km2|adj=on}} island located at the northern tip of Stony Point, a peninsula on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. A part of the Town of Henderson, New York in Jefferson County, the island is about {{convert|16|mi|km}} southwest of Watertown. A {{convert|1300|ft|m|adj=on}} two-lane causeway connects the island to the mainland.
== History == Association Island was once part of a continuous protrusion of land known in the 19th century as '''Six Town Point'''. The name was in reference to the town of Henderson being recorded as the sixth of 11 unnamed towns that were delineated during a 1796 survey of the Black River Tract. Erosion from Lake Ontario waves divided Six Town Point into several small islands at some time prior to 1898.<ref name=Our_County>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/ourcountyitspeop00emer#page/612/mode/2up |title=Our County and its People. A Descriptive Work on Jefferson County, New York |pages=613–614 |chapter=The Town of Henderson |publisher=The Boston History Company |date=1898 |editor=Emerson, Edgar C. |accessdate=September 26, 2015}}</ref>
A fort of French construction briefly existed upon Six Town Point during the 18th century. It is uncertain exactly who constructed the fort, and precisely when it was constructed;<ref name=Our_County/> however it was likely built in 1756 under the order of General Montcalm during the French and Indian War, just prior to his victory at the Battle of Fort Oswego in August 1756. The small fort, approximately {{convert|70|ft}} long on each side, was likely abandoned soon after that battle.<ref name=JeffCo_Histo>{{cite book |last1=Haddock |first1=John A. |title=The Growth of a Century: as Illustrated in the History of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 |date=1894 |publisher=Sherman & Company |location=Philadelphia, PA |pages=[https://archive.org/details/growthofcenturya00hadd/page/n766 571] |url=https://archive.org/details/growthofcenturya00hadd |chapter=Henderson |accessdate=September 27, 2015}}</ref>
In 1905 the National Electric Light Association bought the island, which resulted in the name "Association Island". NELA management used it for meetings. General Electric, after it acquired NELA in 1911, also used the island for company meetings.<ref name=Elfun_island_hist>{{cite web |url=http://elfun.org/history/history.asp |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018105142/http://elfun.org/history/history.asp |archivedate=October 18, 2007 |title=Association Island History |website=Elfun Society |accessdate=September 26, 2015}}</ref>
The Elfun Society, a management organization and think-tank within General Electric, was founded on the island in 1928. The society's logo was a drawing of a large elm tree from the island.<ref name=Elfun_founding>{{cite web |url=http://www.elfun.org/history/index.asp |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018025614/http://www.elfun.org/history/index.asp |archivedate=October 18, 2007 |title=Elfun Society History - Founding |website=Elfun Society |accessdate=September 26, 2015}}</ref> General Electric donated the island to the YMCA in 1959,<ref name=Elfun_island_hist/> and the Elfun Society was dissolved by General Electric in 2014.<ref name=Elfun_Dissolve>{{cite web |url=http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2014/oct/21/1020_elfuns/?print |title=Elfuns feeling like GE 'just divorced us' |newspaper=The Daily Gazette |location=Schenectady, NY |date=October 21, 2014 |author=Bump, Bethany |accessdate=September 26, 2015}}</ref>
After receiving the island in 1959, the YMCA ran a boy's summer camp on the island for several years until abandoning it after 1967.
A non-profit group ran sailing and Boardsailing competitions on the island in the 1970s. The US sailing team was based there while preparing for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, which held sailing competitions at Kingston, Ontario, about {{convert|30|mi|km}} to the north.
The island became a privately owned RV park and resort in 1999. The RV park currently operates as "Sun Outdoors Association Island" with an address of 15530 Snowshoe Rd. Henderson, NY 13650.
== In popular culture == Kurt Vonnegut based some of the material in his 1952 novel ''Player Piano'' on General Electric's meetings and activities at the island, and claimed that the island was "shut down" after the book was widely read in Schenectady, New York, the location of the company's headquarters.<ref name=Vonn_Scholes_1973>{{cite book |last1=Scholes |first1=Robert |editor1-last=Allen |editor1-first=William Rodney |title=Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut |date=1988 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |location=Jackson, Mississippi |isbn=0878053573 |pages=112–113 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLQeOR_m2YMC&pg=PA112 |accessdate=September 26, 2015 |chapter=A Talk with Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., 1973}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== * [https://www.koa1000islandsrv.com/ KOA 1000 Islands Campground on Association Island]
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Category:Islands of Jefferson County, New York Category:Private islands of New York (state) Category:Islands of Lake Ontario in New York (state) Category:Private islands of the Great Lakes