A BIG TREAT: LINCOLN PARK !

We have been chatting about the way we played as children in the Village.  Pretty much it was up to us to find things to do and places to go.  But, for A BIG TRIP, we were taken to Lincoln Park in S. Dartmouth, MA.   The history of that place matches the memories.

Here is a photo of my Aunts Eleanor and Alveda and my Uncle Bunny (John) 

probably taken in the early 40's.  

Much of the information I am sharing is from Wikopedia 

and a couple of websites listed below that you can explore. 

As with much else in our lives then, things seemed simpler.
Federal Spending in 1947 was $34.50 billion. Imagine!

But, clouds were on the horizon as we learned about bomb shelters in the 1950's.
 Still, two tunes on the Hit Parade were Serenade of the Bells and Nature Boy.  

                                                  soundtrack: Serenade of the Bells


Lincoln Park began as a small park on 20 acres just where it stood when we knew it. The Park opened July 4, 1894 drawing crowds of people from the towns all around.  They came by trolley, the trolley system had a hard time keeping up. The name Lincoln Park came from a contest,
the winners name lost to history.

In 1895 the original carousel was opened, later replaced in 1921.  That second beloved carousel now sits proudly at the Battleship Cove in Fall River where it was moved in 1985.

In 1912 a "giant Roller Coaster" was added, replaced in 1946 by the wooden Comet we all knew.
Read more in the second website below for what happened in the history of that coaster, which I do not remember or never knew.

In 1940's the Ferris Wheel and more rides and concessions were added. That helps us to date the photo above, as you can clearly see the roller coaster in the background.

 In the 1980's the owners passed away and the Park was sold.  A lot of us remember seeing that old site with the big FOR SALE sign on the fence, and another indicating that condos were to be built there.  The wooden skeleton of the Comet could be seen disintegrating against the sky.  A group was formed to try to save it as it was one of, if not the only, wooden roller coaster left in the country.  Within this past year, the rest of the skeleton was taken down and carted away.

                         Do you have more memories and photos of Lincoln Park to share?

               

  Meanwhile, for more information to tickle your memories
check out these web sites and do watch the two videos,

they will really spur those memories into action.

 http://lincolnparkdartmouth.webs.com

 http://neprhauntedhistory.weebly.com/lincoln-park.html

Were we Little Rascals?

                                                     Little Rascals Spanky and Shorty
                                                               You Tube video

Continuing with our discussion of playing in the Village, it seemed this video fit. One gets the flavor of wandering kids passing the time of day in their own adventures.

I have some good story telling pickings here from my husband Norm, who is older than I by two years. Norm was brought up as we were but in a French Canadian neighborhood  (did not attain"village" status) in Ocean Grove, part of Swansea,MA.  He, too, hung with a little gang and here are a few of their "little rascal" adventures.

Seaside there were great places to explore, such as where great chunks of ice gathered and flowed in an ocean inlet. The boys, of course, commenced to jump from one ice floe to another til Norm fell in. Looking up he saw only a ceiling of ice. He thought he was done for but managed to get out with the help of the other boys.  However, when he hit the cold all the water froze on him.  Like a  real  Little Rascal he somehow managed to walk home encased in ice. His brother had gone ahead to tell his mother that Norm had "fallen through".  Upon reaching his house, he walked up the one flight of stairs. He said he "had a little trouble with that as he was a block of ice"! His mother, so glad he survived just wrapped him in blankets, tucked him in bed after giving him a "hot toddy." He never even caught a cold!

His other story was playing that old favorite hide and seek. The boys (as did we) played this endlessly in a patch of woods nearby.  They never could find this one boy.  Turns out he dug himself a foxhole and covered himself with tree branches.  Now there is an expert hide and seeker...they did not discover his secret for a long time!

Our parents did not need science to tell us how to let our children grow and develop.  Dr. Spock had published his first book in 1946.  I do not think it was a big seller in the Village.  Our parent's instincts and their own memories let us loose with tethers of love, though it could be nerve wracking.

One must let children fledge and fly or they stay moored in fear, their creativity stunted.

MOVIE THEATRE PEARLS...

It was only when the lights flickered and the newsreel began that we kids started to quiet down.

As I looked at some of the newsreels we watched on You Tube, I wondered  if

 that is where our love of history started.

Here we were, little kids, getting a good dose of world events...

The newsreel was not enough to assure total quiet, I can still hear the chatter and shuffling of little feet back and forth from the refreshment counter and or the elegant rest rooms 

                                                (at least the Ladies, done in pastels)                                                          

                                      If you are a movie theatre historian check this website:
                                                              http://cinematreasures.org

Here are a few facts I found about our theaters:

The Park Theatre was listed in theatre publications as early as 1927.

  On August 26, 1927 a Wurlitzer Theatre organ Opus 1712

 was installed there, 

 Interestingly, the first talkie movie: Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer

 came out that year.  Prior to that only silent films prevailed.

An online movie buff from the Taunton area remembers a tiny blue patch on the screen

at the Park...and as soon as I read that, I remembered it, too.  Do you?

This is a photo of an old 40's movie theatre....not one of ours, but you

"get the picture"

sorry, could not resist that.... 

The aisles slopped down, so we all did

that aisle stoop walk back up and ran back down.

 Elegant light fixtures, red carpeting for the aisles,

seats whose bottoms came up and back, and the satisfying drop of your bottom

as you settled in to the seat, even before the seat finally touched down.

The ornate rococo decor along the side faux balconies. The swish of the wine colored

 velvet drapes swinging open to start the show. The smell of popcorn.

Graduations and special

events were often held in local theaters as did my 1957 high school graduation.

Works of art, my fellow memoirists....works of art.

Now back to the facts, just the facts...

The Park was known for having one of the largest stages in New England.  

Owned by

Mrs. Bentley, Mrs. Margaret Lawson, and Mrs. Rosemary O'Neill. 

 it was demolished April of 1971 along with the Strand.  

According to some, the last film 

shown at either one was

Children of the Dammed.

Some cities and towns have saved their beautiful old theaters using them for art

centers and the like or even to continue showing old films. 

 Sigh.....

Another interesting face is that at one time there were more theatres in Taunton. 

*  The Star at 107 Main St. (above Goldstein and Antine...remember them?) 

The Star had 600 seats and did not survive The Talkies. The Star was built

in 1897! it is 140 years old....still hanging in there, but too far gone to be saved.

*The Whittenton theatre had 1200 seats.

*The Biltmore...well, no information about that one. Anyone?

Also, a reader has reminded us of the State Theatre on Court St.

Could find no info on that one....can anyone help with that?

******

Graduations and special events were held in local theaters. Mine high school

graduation in  1957 was held at the Strand.