03/01/99

Hot times, cool breezes
From Rocky Point to the Rhodes, West Bay was a summer magnet

By S. ROBERT CHIAPPINELLI

Journal Staff Writer 

In 1902, John H. Rooney, an 18-year-old native of England, performed in one of those Forest Casino shows at Warwick's Rocky Point that tickled the masses.

Later that decade, established as a vaudeville singer, juggler and acrobat, he returned to the casino with his own shows. In the decades that followed, he would gain profile politically as Warwick's self-styled "Independent Man." And all through the years, memories of his casino appearances stayed with him.

Rocky Point, after the turn of the century, was an entertainment mecca for New England, but just one of countless spots that attracted throngs each summer to the West Bay. If you wanted cool summer breezes, weekend diversion, a quiet getaway or a touch of daring, you headed there.

In Cranston, you could enjoy the beach in Edgewood and ballroom dancing at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, where a new casino with a large dance floor debuted in 1901. The popular hall was open every evening for dancing.

The more adventurous could thrill to the whine of the newfangled automobile, as nationally known racing daredevils visited the state annually and circled the oval track at the original Narragansett Park in Cranston, where Cranston Stadium now stands.

Locales up and down the West Bay provided relaxing getaways for rich and poor alike. Oakland Beach became a popular resort, complete with hotel and a toboggan ride, forerunner of today's flume.

Linked to prosperous Providence by trolley lines, West Bay, like South County today, attracted thousands each summer. Many dressed in their Sunday finest and strolled sandy beaches, their parasols blunting the sun's rays. Others donned swimsuits of the day, long-sleeved and covering to the knee.

Chepiwanoxet in Cowesett, Pawtuxet Neck, Gaspee Point, Buttonwoods, Nausauket Beach and other areas lured visitors each summer. Some enjoyed wading for quahogs. Greenwich Cove teemed with scallops. Villages assembled football, soccer and baseball teams and took on neighboring rivals. Cottages sprouted, some quite modest, others splendidly imposing. Tentgrounds did too.

On Warwick Neck, wealthy denizens created an exclusive colony. A short distance away, Rocky Point welcomed the masses. Steamships arrived hourly and trolley cars every five minutes, depositing thousands at this favored promontory cooled by Narragansett Bay breezes.

Visitors came from around New England to ride the steam-powered ferris wheel and the new carousel whose $8,000 organ simulated the sounds of a 60-piece band. They picnicked by the shore and gathered around the bandstand where Reeves American Band regularly performed. On Sundays, thousands watched the Providence Grays, a professional baseball team that later included a lefthanded pitcher named Babe Ruth.

Col. Randall A. Harrington leased Rocky Point -- later, in 1910, he bought it for $250,000 -- and stocked it with new, cutting-edge rides. He also imported the finest acts to perform in the Forest Casino on the grounds. John H. Rooney made his modest debut there in 1902. Born in Oldham, Lancashire, England in 1884, he came to the United States when he was 6. His singing, acrobatic and juggling skills lent themselves well to popular vaudeville acts of the day, and later he toured on several vaudeville circuits.

Rooney died in 1968 after a colorful career as Warwick's "Independent Man." His outspoken interest in public affairs led to many political quarrels, but many former foes paid tribute to him when he left Warwick in 1960 to live in Florida. His fondness for Rocky Point came to light in a letter that he wrote in the mid-1950s to Randall A. Harrington Jr., son of the late colonel. Rooney had come across the son's name and wrote to tell him that his father was "one of the greatest showmen I ever met." The son later gave that and other documents concerning his father to the Rhode Island Historical Society. In the letter, Rooney called the colonel the most honorable of men and mused about the wonders that Rocky Point offered. Rooney deemed the area "the most beautiful picnic spot in Rhode Island, where the humble folk used to bring their families and sit under the beautiful shade trees with their lunch baskets."

Nowhere in the world would you get a better clambake, Rooney wrote, and the colonel attracted the finest performers on earth to that rocky shore. In Rooney's days, customers lined up at the Shore Dining Hall for clambakes prepared by bakemaster Charles E. Lyons and stocked by Capt. John H. Northup, who supplied shellfish to Rocky Point for 41 years. Diners could work off those generous meals by climbing the park's observatory tower, 10 stories high and 250 feet above sea level, with winding stairways and spacious landings that afforded commanding views of the Bay. 

ABSENT TODAY'S pervasive television and radio offerings, residents of those days garnered their entertainment at amusement parks, in the theaters of Providence or at Narragansett Park in Cranston, where the Rhode Island Fair and horse races were held and a yearly 100-mile automobile race soon took hold. "It was a regular stop on what they call the championship circuit," said John A. Notte III, of Greenville. Notte, who recently retired as deputy administrator for cable television at the state Division of Public Utilities, is the son of the late Gov. John A. Notte Jr. He has been an Indianapolis 500 race official since 1961.

On Sept. 7, 1896, Narragansett Park's irregular one-mile dirt track played host to the first oval race in the country, Notte said, five laps and seven cars that responded to the starter's skeptical command: "Go, if you can." An electric car won that contest, turning 5 miles in 15 minutes and 1 second, a roaring 20-mile-per-hour pace. Notte likens the event at that time to having space-ship races now. Tens of thousands came by horse and buggy and electric trolley to watch. Cigar-chomping Barney Oldfield and other famous race drivers of that era later visited the park yearly. The grounds featured a hotel and a large grandstand, Notte said, and the track served as a proving ground for manufacturers who wanted to see how their creations fared in the rough-and-tumble of a race.

The annual contest became known as the Providence 100, robbing Cranston of the spotlight in the same manner experienced today by Warwick when air passengers landing at T.F. Green Airport are welcomed to Providence. The grandstand burned down in the mid-'20s, Notte said, and the park faded away. But vestiges of those times remain in some of the surrounding streets, such as Peerless and Overland, named for old-time auto manufacturers.

Today as the new millennium nears, those names have faded from the consciousness, as have the amusements of Rocky Point park. It rides uprooted, its gates locked, the park awaits the new century quiet and deserted, a scene unimaginable for that 18-year-old of yesteryear forging a path into show business in that magical spot that constituted the center of his universe.