WESTBOROUGH – Lake Chauncy has been a critical resource since prehistoric times. Then Native American families settled along the shores of this great lake they called Naggawoomcoom.
Encompassing 185 acres, this lake and surrounding lands were granted in 1654 to Rev. Charles Chauncy for his service as the second president of Harvard College and as minister to the Pilgrims at Plymouth and Scituate. However Chauncy never appeared to execute his claim.
In 1660 settlers of the newly incorporated Marlborough petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to annex Rev. Chauncy’s land grant. They called the lake “Chauncy” to recognize its first colonial owner.
Lake Chauncy’s varied history includes an era of amusement and romance. In 1876 Dr. Samuel G. Henry donated a recreation area at Lake Chauncy for the public’s enjoyment. It served as the site of Westborough’s centennial activities on July 4, 1876.
Lake Chauncy Park was bought in 1901 and improved by the Worcester Consolidated Street Railroad to encourage city people to ride the trolleys to their rural amusement park. Special trolleys ran to the lake from Westborough Square (a five-cent fare), and from Marlborough, Milford, Northborough, Southborough, and Hopkinton. A high-speed trolley ran along the turnpike from Boston.
According to local historian Phil Kittredge, “People came from all over, even New York, to enjoy the entertainment at Lake Chauncy. Michael Cominsky leased the amusement park in 1904 and ran it for the next 20 years.”
When folks arrived at Lake Chauncy by trolley, carriage, bicycle or on foot, an enchanting amusement park welcomed them. There was a dance pavilion, theater, restaurant, boat house, camp grounds, and an athletic field.
The popular dance pavilion built in 1901 offered dancing every Tuesday and Thursday evening, plus Saturday afternoon and evening. Top New England dance bands were featured. Non-dancers relaxed on the surrounding veranda, listened to the orchestra, and watched the twirling dancers.
“Dancers bought a token for three dances, and after those dances, the floor would be cleared for the next round,” Kittredge noted. Tickets were later sold at five cents apiece; ardent dancers bought multiple strings of tickets.
At the theater the audience was mesmerized by silent movies with their piano accompaniment. Popular vaudeville acts kept them laughing.
The first-class restaurant served such specialties as clam chowder at thirty cents a bowl. Dancers quenched their thirsts with Cold Blast ginger ale, Peruvian tonic, and birch beer at the soda fountain or real beer at the beer garden. During Prohibition, Westborough police kept a sharp lookout for bootleggers at the park.
Lake Chauncy Park was always a haven for sports lovers. Fishing and boating were major activities. A boathouse offered canoes and rowboats to rent. It’s said that anglers caught largemouth and smallmouth bass, pickerel, yellow perch, walleyed pike and brown bullheads.
“There was a roller-skating rink and even a livery to rent horses,” Kittredge added. “A horse and buggy path encircled the lake for romantic rides in the moonlight. On Saturday morning there were baseball games.” Candlepin bowling, pool, and horseshoe contests challenged other competitors.
Factory outings, International Field Days, athletic contests, and church picnics were popular attractions. In the 1930s and 1940s, the park could accommodate crowds of 5,000, while the pavilion alone could hold 2,000 dancers.
The revelry at Lake Chauncy Park came to an abrupt end on May 28, 1949. A fire began in the restaurant’s kitchen and quickly spread. The dance pavilion, beer garden, bowling alley, and pool hall burned down. The glory days of Lake Chauncy Park ended in a pile of ashes, never to return.
