INTRODUCTION

In 1895 the Commonwealth Avenue Street Railway opened a trolley route from Lake Street at the Boston line to Auburndale. The electric cars were an important factor in settlement patterns for the city of Newton. When trolley service began , there were only 24 houses on Commonwealth Avenue between Boston and Weston.

In an attempt to increase patronage on the trolleys, President and Newton native Adams Claflin decided to build an amusement park out at the end of the line in Auburndale. They expected to, and were prepared to lose money on the park, but believed that the increased revenues from the trolley line would more that offset these losses.

Norumbega Park opened on June 17, 1897, and was in immediate success. More than 12,000 people visited the Auburndale park on opening day, and the street railway company was forced to purchase new trolleys just to handle the huge crowds coming to Norumbega every summer weekend.

The park featured various types of recreation: a merry-go-round, canoes, huge wooden swings, free band concerts, extensive picnic grounds, and the largest zoo in New England.

1907

Boathouses circa 1908

1917

In addition, the park had a superlative restaurant, a penny arcade, an electric fountain with brightly-colored spotlights playing over great geysers of water, and a vaudeville theatre. The fifteen cent round-trip from Lake Street included admission to the park. The ride out Commonwealth Avenue on the open trolleys became very popular with people from throughout the Greater Boston area. Electricity for Norumbega's lighting, fountain and carousel was provided by the same 600 volts of direct current used to power the trolleys.

The Totem Pole Ballroom was created out of the old theatre. The wooden seats were replaced with 150 huge sofas, set in tiers down to the main dance floor. The ballroom had a smaller dance floor at the rear, and a soda fountain with table and booths. It opened in May 1930. The big bands were broadcast live on WAAB and WNAC. At one point, ABC, NBC and CBS each broadcast from the Auburndale ballroom on a different night of the week. After world-war II and the coming of Rt128 and the automobile, the park declined.

The park was finally closed in 1965 and the property developed by Marriott for a hotel opening in 1969. The police boathouse was not part of the sale and survives today as the Charles River Canoe Rental Service. The building next to it now houses the Charles River Watershed Assoc.
 
 

The Riverside Recreation Grounds also opened in 1897. The recreational facility was located just across the river from the Riverside railroad station in Weston. Riverside was built by Weston resident Charles W. Hubbard to provide a recreational outlet for young men from the inner city, who traveled to Auburndale via the trains of the Boston and Albany Railroad. Riverside rented canoes and catered to group outings, but "The Rec" as it came to be known, emphasized physical fitness to a far greater extent than did Norumbega.

The grounds included the largest swimming pool in New England, a football field, a baseball diamond, practice fields, a complete track facility and outdoor gymnasium, tennis courts, and bowling alleys. There were also a restaurant, a bandstand, and bedrooms and dormitories for overnight guests. More that 5000 canoes were berthed on the Charles River between Newton Lower Falls and Waltham and the various boathouses. Mr. Hubbard donated the "Rec" to the Metropolitian Park Commission (later the MDC) in 1914. The MDC finally closed the facility in 1958. It burned to the ground in a suspicious fire the next year.

Credit:  Bob Pollock author of "Out to Norumbega".  Lecturer on "The Riverside Rec"
pollockr@babson.edu

Postcards:  Collections of Sherwood Norton & Ralph Johnston

12-13-00

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