Nipmuc Park and the Mendon Trolley

Nipmuc Park and the Mendon Trolley

The establishment of Nipmuc Park in 1882 and the

Milford - Uxbridge Electric Street

Railway

in 1901

created significant changes in how people lived their lives in Mendon.

The park, on the western shore

Lake Nipmuc

, offered clean water and air and a

variety of recreational opportunities for weekend

visitors. The resort and the new means

of transportation led to changes in the town's land use,

occupations, and population.

Mendon's agricultural society and economy began a period of

transformation that lasted

through the 1940's.

July 4,1882 marked the beginning of a new era for Lake Nipmuc. Nature's beauty spot

became the

site of commercial entertainment. The dedication of Nipmuc Hall and the

adjacent grove featured a

clam bake and row boat and sailboat rides. A special ride

was a licensed steamboat tour around the

lake. Swings, hammocks, and a bowling alley

were available, and summer treats included ice cream,

soda, and lemonade. Brown's

five-piece orchestra provided entertainment throughout the afternoon

and evening.

After sundown, there was a fireworks display from John Guild's cottage on the island.

The beautiful lake and recreational offerings attracted hundreds of visitors on opening

day and on

every weekend during the summer.

In December 1901, the electric street railway opened and purchased the park. New

features were

added such as electric lighting, a merry-go-round, a new theater, and a

dancing pavilion. Vaudeville

and burlesque shows were offered, and soon the park was

the most popular resort in the region. The

new attractions, plus the easy access by

trolley, brought several hundred people from neighboring

towns to Mendon every

weekend.

Two Mendon residents, Tom and Bill Hackenson, recently reminisced about their days

of working at

the park as teenagers in the early 1940's. Tom drove a launch, a tour

boat holding fifty people, around

the lake using a bullhorn to amplify his voice. He

operated a variety of rides, including the merry-go-

round. He also worked as a

backstage prop man to set up and change decorations and equipment

for burlesque

shows. He recalled that several of the dancers were very talented, including Sally Keith,

Sally Rand, Lili St. Cyr, and Ann Corio. Tom's brother, Bill, worked at the roller skating

rink and as a

ground maintenance man. Both men felt that they were very fortunate to

have had these jobs as

adolescents in a time of economic difficulty at a place that had

significance in the town's history.

With the weekend use of the trolley focused on the park, it was the Monday through

Friday use that

created the biggest changes and opened new occupational

opportunities for Mendon farmers.

Factories and mills in Uxbridge,

Hopedale

, and

Milford

became easily accessible by trolley, and many

young adults chose to give up

the family business in agriculture in order to find employment out of

town. As this trend

continued for several years, many Mendon families decided that the new economic

use

of the land would be to sell it for housing development. As more houses were built, the

town's

population grew. In 1890, 919 people lived in Mendon. By 1940, the population

had grown to 1,315,

and many residents were no longer involved in farming.

Nipmuc Park and the Milford-Uxbridge Electric Street Railway helped to create change

in Mendon's

use of land, population, and economy. The popularity of the park was at its

peak until the end of World

War I, when an influx of automobile production greatly

reduced the need of a regional trolley. The

service ended in 1928. By the early stages

of World War II, the trolley rails were pulled up throughout

the country in order to use

the steel for military equipment. The recreational use of the park had

dwindled by the

1950's. Mendon's landscape of dairy farms, orchards, and pastures is in the past, but

during the era of transition, the town had a special place on the shores of Lake Nipmuc

that had been

a stimulus of change. For the Hackenson brothers, they were pleased to

have been a part of it.

Richard Grady

October 1, 2012

                                       Lake Nipmuc Park              Tom Hackenson

                               G&U Railroad and Trolley Menu           Mendon Menu