Savin Rock Amusement Park

By Edith Reynolds

Savin Rock Amusement Park began to grow in the 1870s when George Kelsey constructed a pier to extend ferry service between the opposite coastlines of New Haven Harbor. This opened the door for further, more sophisticated
development of amusement attractions that drew fun seeking patrons from throughout southern New England. The park thrived until the combination of affordable personal transportation and urban redevelopment forced its demise in the 1960s. Today Savin Rock is a quieter spot fi lled with beachside apartments, a shopping plaza, and a more tranquil grassy park jutting into the harbor. Only a few of the original restaurants remain, changed somewhat from their earlier days but still holding tight to the memories of a different time. Savin Rock Amusement Park contains postcards from the private collection of Ronald P. Guerrera. As an antiques dealer in Waterbury, Guerrera compiled one of the largest and most picturesque collections of postcard memorabilia in Connecticut.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: May 31, 2006
• ISBN: 9781439633786

Edith Reynolds

Edith Reynolds grew up on the shore of New Haven Harbor and moved to Waterbury nearly forty years ago. She currently owns and operates the John Bale Book Company and Cafe with her husband, Dan Gaeta. With their two girls, Helen and Sarah, grown, Edith and Dan have served as urban pioneers, purchasing a building to house their antiquarian bookstore and converting the fourth floor into a loft living space. As a former educator, college administrator and reporter, Edith has a love for history and community growth. She currently serves the city as a board member for Main Street Waterbury, the Downtown Business Association, the Mayor's Economic Task Force and the Waterbury Development Corp. She also serves on the grants boards for the Connecticut Community Foundation and for the WDC HUD block grant disbursements. Her last book was a history of Savin Rock in West Haven, Connecticut. John Murray began his independent community newspaper sixteen years ago in Waterbury after a career as a photojournalist at a larger newspaper. The Waterbury Observer is a free monthly publication that has grown into a powerhouse for information, with Murray tackling touchy, important subjects like worker health, civil rights, political corruption and, most currently, the search for a missing young man. His in-depth coverage has earned him national acclaim that he shares with his daughter, Chelsea. Together they have brought the city another source of news.

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Reynolds.

INTRODUCTION

My earliest memory of Savin Rock began in a Prospect Avenue home when I was a toddler. My teenaged uncle Bob and I had dinner with my Aunt Dot and Uncle Jerry, and on the menu were baked kidney beans. This was a thoroughly unappealing side dish as far as Bob and I were concerned, and we anticipated the meal with dismay.

Bob leaned sideways when the plate was laid on the table and said inquisitively, You’re feeling sick?

Before I could answer, Bob hurriedly explained that my stomach was upset, and he needed to get me home without delay. Within an instant and despite quite a lot of protesting that I looked just fine, Bob and I were in the car and driving away.

I had not realized I was sick, but Bob, being the adult, perhaps knew better. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when Bob stopped the car on Beach Street outside the Flying Horses. Instead of choking down baked beans, I was whirling the night away on a magnificent steed rising and falling in time to the heady calliope music. With Bob grabbing one brass ring after the next, the fun was not likely to end too soon.

Dinner was a palatable mix of honeyed popcorn, glistening candy apples, and a steaming Rosseler hot dog coated in yellow mustard.

I did not know then that Savin Rock was in its demise and the wondrous world of light and sound along with its delicious smells would be bulldozed to raw ground. The end was 10 years away, and that night I was in my glory and enjoying every second of a special evening out.

When we finally reached my house in New Haven, my worried parents met us at the stairs. My aunt had called hours ago to report that I was sick.

As my mom stared at my sticky face and tousled hair, she announced, If she wasn’t sick earlier, the flying horses and all that candy will do the trick tonight.

My uncle shrugged and sheepishly explained, Dot was serving those beans.

Savin Rock was a place of escape for so many who lived in southern New England. For the latter part of the 19th century, the park provided a place of retreat and enjoyment, whether you lived a life of luxury or worked long hours in a hot factory. Each decade brought new attractions to the park and new generations of people looking for fun.

When the amusement park fell victim to urban renewal, it was the end of an era for West Haven, but even now that the landscape is entirely different, I can still recall the laughing lady’s howl echoing through the still night air.

Small homes belonging to beach-loving families speckled the western shore of New Haven Harbor in Connecticut. A little farther inland, the homes belonged to farms, and these were claimed as a part of the town of Orange. The shoreline, however, belonged to New Haven until 1921 when West Haven was formally incorporated.

One

THE WEST SHORE

Savin Rock rests along the west shore of Connecticut’s New Haven Harbor. It is a gentle shore warmed by the Gulf Stream and protected by Long Island Sound from the worst of the Atlantic Ocean storms.

The first European settlers arrived in 1638 when John Davenport left the Massachusetts Bay Colony to set up a trading post. The newcomers marveled at the bounty awaiting them. The waters beneath teemed with oysters, clams, and mussels as well as an array of edible fish, and a native encampment of Quinnipiacs sat at the top of the promontory, surrounded by fertile fields.

The small wooden ship sailed up past the feeding West River and into the currents of the Quinnipiac and Mill Rivers. This was a sheltered, deepwater harbor, and as they progressed, the settlers turned to the opposite shore. The western coast was low and marshy, broken only by a single rock jutting skyward that the settlers dubbed Savin Rock because the low vegetation covering it was reminiscent of similar trees from home.

Davenport’s aim was to enlist the friendly Algonquin Quinnipiacs as trappers while the white settlers developed a Puritan community fueled by a rich export trade. From the start, however, almost none of Davenport’s plans went right.

First among the obstacles was learning that the Quinnipiacs did not suffer immediate hardship. In summer they feasted on the bounty of the water while their crops matured. In winter they moved inland and lodged in longhouses, living off game,