Walking Tour

Rye Historical Society's Annual WALKING TOUR:

Sunday October 25, 2009

(Invitation:)

Rye’s Waterfront Parks: Rye Town Park, Playland, and Their Neighborhoods

In conjunction with the 2009 Centennial of Rye Town Park, this year’s tour will cover the history of Oakland Beach when it was a summer colony before the creation of Rye Town Park in 1909; the vision and development of Rye Town Park; Rye Beach as a summer resort prior to the establishment of Playland in 1928; the vision and development of Playland; and the history and development of the neighborhoods adjacent to Rye Town Park and Playland around 1900.

From Rye Town Park, the tour will proceed through Playland, providing a look back at the history of America’s first totally planned amusement park. Both Rye Town Park and Playland are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After exiting Playland, the tour will stroll through the neighborhoods adjacent to Playland and Rye Town Park, visiting several houses along the way and hearing about the development of those neighborhoods and the architecture of the houses visited.

Sunday October 25 , 2009 • 9:30am - 2:30pm

Check-in is located at the Pavilions at Rye Town Park, Dearborn Ave, Rye, NY (corner of Forest Ave.) Park in the parking lot and walk to the Pavilions. Check-in is 10 minutes prior to your scheduled start time. First tour begins at 9:30am; last tour begins at 2:30pm. Tours begin every 20 minutes and will take approximately 2 hours. Tours will be lead by a tour guide; docents will be at each stop sharing fascinating history. Tours will end back at Rye Town Park. Local artists will be painting & displaying their artwork of Rye waterfront scenes in a special Art in the Park day, sponsored by Rye Town Park.

(SCRIPT:)

RYE HISTORICAL SOCIETY WALKING/HOUSE TOUR:

RYE’S WATERFRONT PARKS:

RYE TOWN PARK, PLAYLAND, AND THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS

OCTOBER 25, 2009

SCRIPT FOR TOUR GUIDES AND DOCENTS

By Eugene McGuire

Contributions by: Damian DiCostanzo, Richard Hourahan, Daniel Kelly, Susan Morison, Paul Rheingold, and Karen Yannett

START OF TOUR – Dearborn Avenue entrance to Rye Town Park

PARKING – Rye Town Beach parking lot

SIGN-IN – Dearborn Avenue entrance to Rye Town Park

WELCOME:

ALLOTED TIME: 1 minute

TOUR GUIDE SCRIPT:

Introduction

Welcome to the “Rye’s Waterfront Parks: Rye Town Park, Playland, and their Neighborhoods” tour presented by the Rye Historical Society. My name is ________________________________. I will be your tour guide for today.

We are going to start with a discussion of Oakland Beach before the development of Rye Town Park, the development of Rye Town Park, and the early years of the park. We will then walk through Rye Town Park and Playland, stopping to hear abut Rye Beach before the development of Playland, the development of Playland, and the early years of Playland. Upon leaving Playland, we will walk through some of the neighborhoods surrounding Playland and Rye Town Park. During our walk, you will hear about the history of the neighborhoods and the architecture of some of the houses. We will visit several homes along the way to gain a better understanding of their history and architecture. A mini-bus will take us between the last two stops. Our discussion will not be in chronological order. Rather, the order of our discussion will follow the order of the sites we pass along our walk.

Docents will meet you at each stop to discuss the history related to their stop.

The tour will take about two hours.

Now, we will walk to the pavilions and I will turn you over to your first docent who will tell you about Oakland Beach and the development of Rye Town Park.

STOP 1, Rye Town Park pavilions

ELAPSED TIME: 2 minutes

ALLOTED TIME: 17 minutes

DOCENT SCRIPT:

Oakland Beach and Rye Town Park

Oakland Beach

Oakland Beach, the area where Rye Town Park is located, was inhabited by the Siwanoy Native American tribe when the first English settlers arrived in Rye in 1660. The Siwanoy were generally peaceful nomads who spent the spring and summer along the shores of Long Island Sound and the Hudson River fishing and claming. What is now the duck pond in Rye Town Park was a source of drinking water for the Siwanoy. A Native American shell midden [refuse heap] containing tools and other Native American artifacts was unearthed near the location of Seaside Johnnies. A Native American burial mound containing skeletal remains was unearthed near the location of the Playland ice rink.

Thomas Studwell, one of the original settlers of Rye, purchased property from what is now Milton Road to the shore of Long Island Sound in 1663. That land included the property where Rye Town Park is located. In 1667, Thomas Studwell traded his property between Milton Road and Oakland Beach to Timothy Knapp. Timothy Knapp farmed the land and some time between 1667 and 1680, built a house at the corner of Milton Road and Rye Beach Avenue. That house was later expanded and is now the Rye Historical Society’s research library and archives. The house is open to the public and is believed to be the oldest house in Westchester County.

Ezekiel Halsted purchased the property from Timothy Knapp’s descendants in 1749. The property Ezekiel Halsted purchased consisted of 84 acres, including what is now Rye Town Park. The Halsted family continued to own the property for more than 150 years.

Around 1880, the Halsted family started to develop their property along Oakland Beach as a summer resort. At that time, William B. Halsted built an inn on Dearborn Avenue near the beach. He named the inn the “Oakland.” The inn was known for “sumptuous shore dinners.” A pier for a ferry to Oyster Bay, Long Island was located at the end of Dearborn Avenue. By the late 1800s, ferries landing at the pier stopped at New Rochelle, Mt. Vernon, Stamford, and Sea Cliff on Long Island. In 1909, the ferry pier was expanded to accommodate a ferry which could carry automobiles. That was the first time automobiles were able to cross Long Island Sound. Although the ferry service was limited to the summer, the ferries landing at Dearborn Avenue carried more than 102,000 passengers and more than 2,800 vehicles during the 1909 season. The ferry ran every other hour and took 40 minutes to cross the Sound.

In 1910, The New York Times described Oakland Beach and Rye Beach as “one of the finest locations along the Sound, and the only point on this part of the Sound that has an extensive beach which is open to the public.”

Augustus M. Halsted inherited the Rye Town Park property from Newberry Halsted in 1905. He developed the area bordered by Dearborn Avenue, Forest Avenue, Rye Beach Avenue and the beach (the area of the parkland at Rye Beach Park) into approximately 200 sites for small cottages and tent platforms. The sites had privies, rather than indoor plumbing and were rented for $60 to $100 per season by people from Port Chester, other neighboring Westchester communities, New York City, the Bronx, Long Island, and New Jersey. The 7th Regiment from New York City owned twelve permanent tent platforms along a drainage ditch between the duck pond and the beach for the use of members of the Regiment. The Halsted family maintained Oakland Beach and provided beach access and facilities such as bathhouses and canoe rentals for “day trippers.” As of 1906, J. Henry Halsted was the proprietor of Oakland Beach. J. Henry Halsted installed 100 street lamps at Oakland Beach and 3 acetylene torches for evening swimming. The Halsted’s Oakland Beach development of modest facilities for middle class families “was considered far superior to the raffish collection of cheap rooming houses and amusement parks along the adjacent Rye Beach.”

Around the turn of the century, the Westchester Beach Club was built on Dearborn Avenue between Forest Avenue and the beach. The clubhouse had locker and changing rooms for men and women, 7 bedrooms, a large “lounging room,” and a “piazza.” The clubhouse may survive as the residence at 124 Dearborn Avenue. At a minimum, 124 Dearborn Avenue gives us a good idea of the appearance and location of the former clubhouse.

In 1928, J.P. Magner built a large swimming pool at the end of Dearborn Avenue where Water’s Edge is now located. The pool was advertised as “the biggest in the East.” Popular swimming and diving meets were held there. Johnny Weismuller and Buster Crabbe (both of whom were famous for playing the role of Tarzan in films and lived in Rye) led exercises at the pool. The facility also included basketball and handball courts and a dancing hall. The pool closed in 1966 and was demolished in 1968.

The Development of Rye Town Park

The creation of a public park at Oakland Beach was first proposed by John A. Gwynne around 1900. At that time, the shoreline in Rye was increasingly being occupied by large estates which foreclosed public access to the shore. John Gwynne and others thought that a park should be created at Oakland Beach to preserve access to the beach for the residents of Westchester County. John Gwynne sponsored public forums in Rye to create support for the acquisition of land for a waterfront park. The forums lead to the submission of petitions to the Westchester County Board of Supervisors requesting the acquisition of both Oakland Beach and Rye Beach for a park. The County supervisors rejected the proposal in 1901.

The idea of establishing a public park at Oakland Beach surfaced again after what is now the City of Rye seceded from the Town of Rye and was incorporated as the Village of Rye in 1904. The establishment of Rye Town Park was a hotly debated topic for an extended period. Some of the ideological forces which were involved in the debate about the creation of Rye Town Park in the early 1900s are still evident today in debates about current proposals. Some of the owners of neighboring estates, lead by Simeon Ford whose summer estate was located where Forest Cove (Bird Lane) and Stanley Keyes Court are now located, opposed the creation of the park because they feared that it would bring noise and crowds which would interfere with the peace and quiet they sought in their summer escape from Manhattan. Other groups of Rye citizens thought that the limited resources of Rye’s government should be devoted to projects such as installing sewers and sidewalks and paving and lighting streets. Other groups of Rye citizens were concerned about removing the property from the tax roles. Still other groups supported the creation of the park because they believed that it was essential to preserve public access to the beach. In addition to the debate over whether there should be a park at all, there was a debate over whether the Village of Rye or the Town of Rye should own and control the park. Westchester County had already rejected the creation of a County park at Oakland Beach. Some Rye residents believed that the Village of Rye needed to own the park to protect Rye, while other residents did not want the Village of Rye to bear the financial burden of the park. It must be remembered that the Village of Rye had just seceded from the Town of Rye to have more control over its fate. Residents of the Village of Port Chester and the other areas within the Town of Rye outside of the Village of Rye wanted to protect their access to Oakland Beach by having the park owned by Rye Town and resented Rye’s recent secession from the Town of Rye.

The governments of the Town of Rye and the Village of Rye finally sprung to action in 1907. George Slater, the Town of Rye Counselor, introduced a bill to make Oakland Beach a Town park. Public hearings were held to determine public sentiment for the creation of the Town park. The Trustees of the Village of Rye adopted a resolution authorizing $64,000 in bond proceeds to be used for the purchase of land at Oakland Beach for a park if a Rye Town Park bill were not adopted by the State legislature. As you will see, $64,000 was way short of the amount needed. J. Mayhew Wainwright (who later built the house which is now Wainwright House) was the New York State Assemblyman representing the Village of Rye at that time. He strongly believed that the park should be owned by the Town of Rye and played a significant role mediating the various interests regarding Village versus Town control.

J. Mayhew Wainwright introduced the Oakland Park bill in the New York State Assembly on March 26, 1907, noting that “it will require several amendments, reflecting concerns of all parties before passage by the Legislature.” The amendments included giving the Village of Rye authority over policing the park and requiring that the land for the park be taken by condemnation. On Election Day, 1907, all 7 election districts in the Villages of Rye and Port Chester and the Town of Rye approved a proposition for the creation of Rye Town Park. The New York legislature approved the establishment of the Rye Town Park Commission so that the Town of Rye, which included the separately incorporated Villages of Rye and Port Chester, could acquire land and create the park. Finally, on May 3, 1908, Governor Hughes signed the bill authorizing Rye Town Park. Rye Town Park is said to be the first public park established in Westchester along Long Island Sound.

Bonds totaling $400,000 were sold on March 8, 1909. Augustus Halsted was paid $183,346 from the bond proceeds for the land for Rye Town Park, an amount determined by a condemnation proceeding. Additional amounts paid to Augustus Halsted brought the total costs of the condemnation proceeding to $305,521. The winning bid for constructing the buildings at Rye Town Park was $55,850 and for landscaping was $46,980. The total expenditures for the creation of Rye Town Park in 1909 were $443,458, a substantial amount at the time.

When the Village of Rye became the City of Rye in 1942, the expenses of operating Rye Town Park were divided between the City of Rye and the Town of Rye based on the ratio of the two entities’ assessed valuations, with Rye City becoming responsible for 38% of the expenses and the rest of Rye Town being responsible for 62%. Rye Town Park is overseen by the Rye Town Park Commission which includes the Rye Town Supervisor, the mayors of the City of Rye and the Villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook, an additional appointee of the City of Rye, and a representative of Rye Neck appointed by the Rye Town Board.

The Early Years of Rye Town Park

The Rye Town Park Commission retained the architecture firm of Upjohn and Conable to design the buildings for Rye Town Park and the landscape architecture firm of Brinley and Holbrook to design the 28 acres of parkland between the beach and Forest Avenue. The park contains an additional 34 acres of beach, half of which are under water at high tide. Hobart Upjohn was the grandson of Richard Upjohn, who designed Trinity Church at the end of Wall Street, and the son of Richard Mitchell Upjohn, who designed the Rye Presbyterian Church, as well as the Connecticut State Capital. In addition to designing the buildings at Rye Town Park, Hobart Upjohn designed the parish house for the Rye Presbyterian Church and the Rye Free Reading Room. Major commissions for Hobart Upjohn outside of Rye include buildings at Vassar College and Hobart William Smith College.

Before the park could be built, the cottages, bathhouses, and other buildings constructed by the Halsteds at Oakland Beach had to be removed. Many of the cottages were moved to neighboring streets. Bulkley Manor was created at this time using a number of those cottages.

Construction of the park took place during 1909 and early 1910. The park, beach, and buildings which surround us today were open for the 1910 summer season. The park was immensely popular from the time it opened. The initial buildings included the twin towered Bathing Pavilion and the two open shelters in front of the Bathing Pavilion. The restaurant building which now houses Seaside Johnnies was completed slightly later in 1910. The Bathing Pavilion has been described as “the most spectacular feature of the park…a playful interpretation of the Spanish Colonial, or Mission, style, intended to make a dramatic visual statement….” The building contained both administrative offices and men’s and women’s locker rooms. The two towers contain water tanks, one for the men’s locker room and one for the women’s locker room. Bands used to play music on the balcony between the two towers to entertain visitors to the park and for dancing in the open shelters. There still exist two tunnels from the lower level of the Bathing Pavilion to the beach. The tunnels were so that people could go from the locker rooms to the beach in bathing suits without being seen by those who were not on the beach. In 1910, it was considered unseemly to be seen in a bathing suit unless you were actually on the beach. The Bathing Pavilion also contains 5 jail cells which were used to hold disorderly park visitors until they could be transferred to the Rye police station. Initially, the area which is now the paved parking area inside the stucco walls contained additional bathhouses for a total of 600 of beachgoers. In 1910, it was unheard of to arrive at the beach in your bathing suit. The additional bathhouses were demolished during the 1920s when a new two story women’s bathhouse was built.

All of the park’s original buildings are in the Spanish Revival or Mission style, which is related to the Craftsman style and the arts and crafts movement, about which you will hear more at a later stop on the tour. The characteristics of the Spanish Revival or Mission style are stucco wall surfaces, red tile roofs with deep overhangs, symmetrical massing, mission like bell towers, quatrefoil windows, visor roofs cantilevered from the wall, and arcaded entry porches. The Bathing Pavilion contains all of these features. The decoratively carved exposed rafter tails on both the Bathing Pavilion and the open shelters are characteristic of the Craftsman style.

In the early years of Rye Town Park, men were required to wear tops which covered their swimming trunks at all times and women were required to wear dark stockings and otherwise be covered from neck to toe. Not only did people not arrive at the beach wearing bathing suits, but they often rented, rather than owned, them. In 1930, the items which could be rented at Rye Town Park and the rental rates were: bathing suits 20 cents, stockings 10 cents, bathing caps 10 cents, towels 5 cents, and water wings 10 cents. The charge for using the bathhouses was 20 cents. Canoes and rowboats could be rented for 50 cents. The issue of parking arose in the park’s first season. At that time, there were complaints that there were too many cars parking which did not leave enough room for horses and carriages to tie up.

The Friends of Rye Town Park was formed as a non-profit organization in 1991 to help restore and maintain the landscape and buildings at Rye Town Park. The Friends have raised substantial funds and been responsible for significant renovations to the park and pavilions. The Friends of Rye Town Park would appreciate your continued support as much remains to be done.

Rye Town Park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and in 1988 was one of the first ten sites listed on Westchester County’s Inventory of Historic Places.

If you would like to see more pictures of Oakland Beach and the early years of Rye Town Park, as well as learn more about the Park’s history, you can visit an exhibit currently on display at the Knapp House, the Rye Historical Society’s archives and library on the corner of Milton Road and Rye Beach Avenue. The Knapp House is open Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 9:00 AM until 4:00 PM.

You will now rejoin your tour guide to walk through Rye Town Park to your next stop.

STOP 2: The Rye Beach Avenue entrance to Rye Town Park

ELAPSED TIME: 32 minutes

ALLOTED TIME: 10 minutes

DOCENT SCRIPT:

Rye Beach

There was horse racing on the “Rye flats,” Rye Beach at low tide, as early as 1775 and as late as the 1860s. In 1872, a restaurateur started operating “Ferguson’s Rhode Island Clam Bakes” at Rye Beach. The first hotel at Rye Beach opened in1873. By the late 1800s, Rye Beach had become a bustling summer resort with hotels, restaurants, amusement attractions, swimming facilities, and summer cottages. The Rye Beach area was roughly bounded by Forest Avenue on the west, Long Island Sound on the east, Rye Beach Avenue on the south, and the area currently occupied by Playland the Playland ice rink on the north. Prior to the construction of Playland, Rye Beach Avenue turned north when it reached the beach and ran along the beach past the current location of the Playland Ice Rink. Originally, visitors arrived at Rye Beach by stage coach from the Rye train station. Later, there was trolley service ending at a turnaround at the foot of Beck Avenue. There also was ferry service to Rye Beach and to the pier at the foot of Dearborn Avenue. The Rye Chronicle estimated that 30,000 people visited the Rye beaches on July 4th, 1907.

George Worden opened the first hotel at Rye Beach in 1873 when he converted the “old Lossee house” where the Playland skating rink is now located into a small hotel called Worden’s Rye Beach Hotel. The larger Rye Beach Hotel with 50 Rooms opened in 1875. By 1881, William Dixie Beck had taken over the former Lossee property, which he operated as Beck’s Rye Beach House. That hotel later became the Beach Hill Inn and then Edward’s Hotel. In 1887 William Beck opened a larger hotel at the end of Beck Avenue across from the beach. The hotel was known as Beck’s Hotel and was extremely successful. Richard Werner bought Beck’s Hotel in 1908 after William Beck’s death. The hotel was renamed the Rye Beach Hotel and also was known as Werner’s Hotel. The hotel had a restaurant which, like many other Rye Beach hotels, was noted for its shore dinners.

Within a few years after the opening of Beck’s Hotel, the length of Rye Beach was lined with hotels. Starting at the corner where Rye Beach Avenue turned when it hit the beach, there was the Grandview Inn, the Rye Beach Inn, Beck’s Hotel and Edward’s Hotel. A 1910 ad for the Rye Beach Inn, the largest of the hotels, described it as having a sun parlor on the second floor, “magnificent views of the Sound,” shore dinners, and music in the afternoon and evening. The Rye Beach Inn burned in 1912 and was replaced by Jarvis’ Bathhouse and the Dance Pavilion at the Rye Beach Pleasure Park. Since people in that era did not arrive at the beach wearing bathing suits, there were a number of bathhouses along the beach. Other bathhouses included Thomas’ Bath House and the Big Star Bath House. Shops also sprung up along the stretch of Rye Beach Avenue facing the beach, including a drug store, a grocery store, and a produce store. By 1915, there was a fishing concession and a roller rink further down the beach. There was a swimming pier near the current end of Rye Beach Avenue. Beck’s Dock was opposite Beck’s Hotel. A ferry ran from the dock to Port Chester.

A trolley line was extended to Rye Beach in 1899. The trolley ran down Midland Avenue from Port Chester, made a detour to the railroad station, returned to Midland Avenue (which was then called “Meadow Street”), reached Forest Avenue near the current entrance to Playland, then went down Beck Avenue to where the trolley line ended in front Beck’s Hotel. The trolley was replaced by buses in 1927.

There were two amusement parks at Rye Beach before the construction of Playland, Rye Beach Amusement Park and Paradise Park. By the 1890s, Rye Beach Amusement Park was operating between Redfield Street, Beck Avenue, Forest Avenue, and the beach, approximately where the entrance to Playland is today. The amusement park’s entrance was on Beck Avenue by the trolley stop. Over the years the owner and the operator of the amusement park changed, as did the attractions at the park. The initial operator was Col. I. Austin Kelley from Kentucky, who had another amusement park in Illinois. Attractions at the amusement park included a large theater for live entertainment, a dance pavilion, restaurants, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster named the “Kentucky Thoroughbred,” a skating rink, a shooting gallery, a “House of Mirth,” a kiddy land, and a carousel. There also was a midway and a picnic grove, picnics being a popular activity for those coming to Rye Beach. Beauty, popularity, and baby contests were held at the amusement park. The carousel was particularly well known and survives as one of Playland’s most historic rides. The carousel has 66 horses by the noted carver, Charles Carmel. The carousel’s organ was built in 1896 by the famous Italian organ maker Gavioli with works built in Germany by Charles Mangels. Rye Beach Amusement Park operated until the construction of Playland.

The second amusement park, Paradise Park, was built by Fred Ponty and Joseph Haight in 1923. The amusement park was built approximately where Playland’s amusement area is today. The land on which the park was built had been marshland and an inlet until it was filled by the Cowles family of Milton Road, who owned that property, as well as the property across the street on which the Edward’s Hotel was located. Paradise Park only lasted until 1926, when it was destroyed by a huge fire. The attractions at Paradise Park included a roller coaster called the “Blue Streak,” a carousel, dodge-em cars, and a dance pavilion.

Meadow Beach, the stretch of beach beyond the Edward’s Hotel (which was where the Playland Ice Rink is now located), was the beach favored by Rye residents. In 1908, several Rye residents formed the Rye Beach Club to build a float for swimming there. By the 1920s, the Rye Beach Club had been renamed the “Rye Country Club,” had acquired the Whitby estate, and had built the golf course which is now the City owned Rye Golf Club.

Rye Beach also contained a number of small, summer cottages which were leased by the season. Some of those cottages still exist on the streets between Rye Beach Avenue and Wainwright Street. If you look down Rye Beach Avenue from here, you can see four surviving cottages. These are the four small, identical houses with their gable ends facing the street. There is a driveway between the middle two cottages called “Flanagan’s Alley.” Flanagan’s Alley goes to five more identical cottages. These nine cottages were purchased for $25 a piece by Mr. Flanagan and moved from the site of Rye Town Park in 1909. The summer cottages were always built by a single owner as a group on a single piece of land for seasonal rental. A March, 1908 ad from the Rye Chronicle gives us an idea of Rye Beach summer rentals at the turn of the last century:

The Bellchambers Bungalows, Rye Beach, N.Y. Six and seven rooms-from two hundred dollars up per season. Fully furnished and equipped for housekeeping. Gas stoves and running water. Beautifully located on high ground. Two minutes to beach.

Ward Park was a group of rental summer bungalows on the south side of Beck Avenue which were run by a Mrs. Ward. After Playland was built, those cottages were winterized, but ultimately were replaced by the houses currently on Wards Park East and Wards Park West. Although the Ward Park cottages were not displaced by Playland, other bungalows were. The surrounding neighborhood vehemently opposed the relocation of the cottages to the streets adjacent to Playland.

In 1913, the New York Times described Rye Beach as:

One of the best beaches along the Sound. From expensive restaurant service to hot roasted peanuts…you can find whatever refreshment suits your taste….You can go for a dip….You can fish or you can row. You can disport yourself to the dulcet measures of the merry-go-round, or you can lie on the sand and let the world go.

However, by 1924, Rye Beach had become decidedly honky-tonk. A 1924 report of the Westchester County Park Commission described Rye Beach as:

a complete seaside resort…a typical assortment of amusement and retail business enterprises…ramshackle hotels, shanties, and cheap, rundown bath houses….a meeting place for every pickpocket, drunkard, and prostitute in Westchester County.

The Park Commission recommended that the County acquire Rye Beach for the park which became Playland.

Your tour guide will now take you into Playland where you will see Rye Beach as it was transformed in 1928.

TOUR GUIDE SCRIPT – Walking from Stop 2 to Stop 3

(Point out line of original small rental summer cottages)

STOP 3: Playland Museum

ELAPSED TIME: 47 MINUTES

ALLOTTED TIME: 12 MINUTES [10 minute talk, 2 minutes to view pictures]

DOCENT SCRIPT

The Development of Playland and Playland’s Early Years

The Development of Playland

Playland was built by the Westchester County Parks Commission between Labor Day, 1927 and May, 1928. Playland has been called “a milestone in American amusement park design.” It was the first totally planned amusement park in the United States and is thought to be the country’s only municipally owned amusement park. Playland is considered to be the forerunner of Disneyland and is listed on both the New York State and the National Register of Historic Places.

The Westchester County Parks Commission was established in 1921 for the regional planning of parks and parkways in Westchester County. The fact that Rye Beach was considered one of the best beaches on Long Island Sound and that the Rye Beach area had become somewhat derelict, lead the Parks Commission to recommend the creation of a County park at Rye Beach. The Parks Commission’s stated purpose in creating Playland was:

to plan an amusement park possessing artistic merit to attract a class of people who before resented going to summer amusement resorts of the ‘Coney Island’ type and to educate the habitual amusement park goers to an appreciation and a desire for things beautiful.

The Parks Commission intended Playland to be the American equivalent of Europe’s Tivoli Gardens.

The Westchester County Board of Supervisors authorized $600,000 for the purchase of 160 acres of salt marsh and undeveloped land around Manursing island in 1923. An additional $2.5 million was authorized in 1925 to acquire another 54 acres at Rye Beach. The County purchased the former Paradise Park after it was destroyed by fire in 1926. The County then purchased the Rye Beach Amusement Park for $410,000 from the heirs of Charles McManus, whose house you will visit later on this tour, subject to a lease with the amusement park’s operator running through the 1927 summer season. The County demolished the Rye Beach Amusement Park immediately after Labor Day, 1927 and the construction of Playland began. By that time, the County had acquired approximately 215 acres at Rye Beach.

Building all of Playland, except for the swimming pool and the Casino (now the ice rink building), between Labor Day, 1927 and the following Memorial Day was an enormous task. At some points more than 1,000 men were working on the site. The land needed to be cleared of all existing buildings. Some land needed to be dredged, while other land needed to be filled. Roads and car parks had to be built and all of the buildings had to be constructed, many on pilings.

Frank Darling, a nationally renowned expert in amusements and amusement parks, was retained to design Playland and supervise its construction. Ultimately, he became the park’s first executive director. The “award winning” architectural firm of Walker and Gillette, known for their Art Deco buildings, was hired to be the architects for Playland. The firm of Watson and Flagg was hired to be the lighting engineers. Gilmore D. Clarke of the Parks Commission was Playland’s landscape architect.

Playland was the first amusement park in the United States specifically designed for its patrons to arrive by automobile. Car parks were designed to accommodate 10,000 cars and what is now Playland Parkway was planned as the last stretch of the unbuilt “Cross County Parkway.” The parkway was to run between Yonkers and Forest Avenue. Eventually, part of I-95 was built on land acquired for the parkway. Before Playland, visitors to amusement parks were expected to arrive by public transportation, usually by trolley, and there was little or no provision for automobiles. A pier for visitors to arrive by ferry or excursion boat and facilities for people to arrive by bus also were built. Excursion boats brought visitors to Playland from New York City, Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey until 1976.

Other innovations for which Playland is famous include its being the first amusement park to sell tickets as scrip, the first amusement park to have music electronically broadcast throughout the park, and the first amusement park to have its attractions visually integrated by a uniform colonnade and a consistent architectural style. Previously, amusement parks were visually chaotic with no unifying architectural elements. Playland is still noted for its Art Deco architecture. The Art Deco style is characterized by smooth wall surfaces (often of stucco as in the Playland buildings), a vertical emphasis (often by the use of towers and vertical projections, which also are found in Playland’s buildings), and stylized, geometric decorative motifs. The bathhouse is the only major building at Playland which is not in the Art Deco style. However, its Spanish Revival architecture shares many characteristics with the Art Deco style and harmonizes with the other buildings.

Playland’s Early Years

Playland was extremely popular from the time it opened. It had 300,000 visitors during Memorial Day, 1928. The majority of the visitors to Playland came from the New York metropolitan area. However some came from as far away as Florida, California, and Canada. Although the specific attractions at Playland have changed over the years, most of the major elements we find in Playland today were in place in 1928: the beach, the boardwalk, the bathhouse building, the pier, the midway with its 1000 ft. long colonnade and music tower, the amusement ride area, Kiddyland, the boathouse, the bus plaza, and the car park. The pool and the casino were added in 1929 and 1930. Fireworks have been a part of Playland ever since the park opened, except during WWII.

Although Playland as we know it looks basically the same as it did in the late 1920s, the ambiance is very different. Not only was the Westchester Parks Commission trying very hard to make Playland appeal to the middle class, but it was an era of much greater formality than the 21st century. Women came to Playland wearing dresses, heels, and hats. Men wore jackets, ties, and hats. The bathhouse building was designed to accommodate 10,000 people because, as you heard earlier, people did not arrive at the beach wearing bathing suits. Also, the bathhouse was designed for beachgoers to exit the bathhouse to the beach below the boardwalk level so that they would not be seen from the rest of the park in their bathing suits. When Playland opened, proper decorum demanded that bathing suits cover much of your body. Men were required to wear bathing suits with tops until 1937. By the 1960s, beachgoers were arriving at Playland already wearing their bathing suits and the bathhouse was closed. Currently, part of the bathhouse is being converted into the Westchester Children’s Museum.

There were several restaurants at Playland with uniformed waiters, including one on the bathhouse roof. Informal picnic facilities also were available. The Casino, now the ice rink building, had a dining room which could accommodate 3,000 overlooking Long Island Sound. The ballroom was built to be converted to an ice rink in the winter. Leading entertainers of the big band era, such as Glenn Miller, Les Brown, and Rudy Vallee, performed at the Casino in its early years. The Rye Figure Skating Club has used the Playland rink from almost the beginning. In more recent years, the New York Rangers hockey team used the rink for training. In Playland’s early years, Kiddyland had uniformed nurses so that parents could leave their children while the adults went to the beach, dined, or went to the adult roller coaster and other rides. Gertrude Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel and a famous celebrity of the day, was in charge of the Playland pool and gave exhibitions at the pool with Johnny Weissmuller, the Olympic champion and future Tarzan.

The 110 ft. tall Art Deco Music Tower, which dominates the north end of the Midway, was noted for containing the first synchronized electric sound system to supply an amusement park with recorded music. There was a band shell and a roller rink on the Midway in front of the Music Tower. Circus acts performed on the Midway, including high wire artists, human cannonballs, and elephants. Through 1936, a circus also performed inside daily. From the beginning, people came to Playland to ride roller coasters. Until 1957, one of those roller coasters was the Airplane Coaster which has been called the greatest wooden roller coaster. It had over 3,200 ft. of track with cars traveling at 100 mph. The Dragon Coaster is considered Playland’s most famous ride and has been operating since Playland opened. Other early amusement rides included the Derby Racer, the carousel, a Ferris wheel, dodge-em cars, Bluebeard’s Palace, and the Old Mill (a 1,200 ft. long tunnel ride).

Before you leave, take a few minutes to look at the historic pictures of Playland on these walls. Then please rejoin your tour guide to continue your tour of Playland.

REST STOP: The Playland Boathouse

ELAPSED TIME: 69 MINUTES

ALLOTTED TIME: 2 MINUTES

TOUR GUIDE SCRIPT

The Creation of Playland Lake; Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary

The Creation of Playland Lake

We are going to rest on these benches overlooking Playland Lake briefly before starting our tour of some of the neighborhoods surrounding Playland and Rye Town Park.

Playland Lake was largely a swamp and salt marsh with a tidal inlet running through it before the construction of Playland. During the construction, the 80 acre lake was created and dredged to a depth of 30 feet. The dredged soil was used as fill for what became the amusement and parking areas so that those areas would not flood. When Playland opened, the lake was ready for the rowboats, canoes, and paddleboats which visitors could rent, as well as for the motor launches which provided rides around the lake.

Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary

You can see the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary on the other side of Playland Lake. The sanctuary is part of the Westchester park system and is accessed through the Playland parking lot. The sanctuary’s paths are open year round. The sanctuary is named after the late Edith G. Read, a pioneering conservationist and lifelong Rye resident. The Rye Historical Society will be having an exhibit about Edith Read at the Square House this winter.

STOP 4: 3, 5, and 6 Sanford Street

TIME ELAPSED: 79 MINUTES

ALLOTED TIME: 6 MINUTES

DOCENT SCRIPT

Arts and Crafts Architecture

(Standing in front of 3 Sanford Street)

3, 5 & 6 Sanford Street as Examples of Craftsman Bungalow Architecture

The neighborhood where we are now standing was known as Ryan Park when it was developed early in the 20th century. You will hear more about the development of the neighborhoods around Rye Beach and Oakland Beach at the last stop on this tour. I am mentioning that this is Ryan Park so that you will be better oriented when you hear that discussion.

We are surrounded by three excellent examples of Craftsman style bungalows – the houses at 3, 5 and 6 Sanford Street. Other examples of this style are found throughout Ryan Park and on the streets off Milton Road opposite the Milton firehouse. We will not see the interior of any of the houses on Sanford Street. However, you will view an excellent bungalow interior at the last stop on this tour.

I am going to describe the characteristics of a bungalow, and then describe the characteristics of the Craftsman style. The houses at 3, 5, and 6 Sanford Street possess the main features of both parts of the term “Craftsman bungalow.” Please look at these houses to identify the features of the style as I discuss them.

The bungalow is the most common Craftsman style structure. The word “bungalow” comes from India, where it identified a low house, usually set in a garden, with a roof with a shallow pitch and wide overhangs and a broad porch surrounding the structure. The bungalow in the United States has been described as “a low, gabled, one or one-and-a-half storied house with the front pitch of the roof (often penetrated by a spreading dormer with a row of windows) extended so as to shelter a generous porch.” An “exaggerated chimney, often of cobblestone” is another common American bungalow feature. The bungalow was one of the most popular house forms in the U.S. from about 1905 through the early 1920s. The house at 5 Sanford Street was built in 1921 and those at 3 and 6 Sanford Street were built around 1924, the end of the bungalow’s dominance.

One of the most distinctive features of the Craftsman style is the roof beams and rafters which extend well beyond the exterior walls and are always exposed. Often there are exposed wooden braces under the gables. Wide eave overhangs also are characteristic, as are squat porch columns resting on masonry piers or solid balustrades. The columns have been entirely eliminated in the houses at 3, 5, and 6 Sanford Street, with the roof beams resting directly on the masonry piers. Craftsman bungalows usually are covered with shingles or clapboard. However, they can be stone, brick, or stucco. Interior features of the Craftsman style focus on exposed wood structural members such as beamed or coffered ceilings and wood joinery. Wainscoting, built-in cupboards, and inglenooks also are common. The woodwork was usually unpainted, dark wood. Gustav Stickley was a major proponent of the Craftsman style. The interior detailing of a Craftsman house is reminiscent of Stickley’s Arts & Crafts or Mission furniture.

History of Arts and Crafts Architecture

Philosophically, the Craftsman style traces it roots back to the British Arts & Crafts movement. Stylistically, the Craftsman style lies along a continuum which stretches from the Shingle style (of which the next house on this tour is an excellent example) through the Craftsman style and on to the Art Deco style which you just saw at Playland.

The American Arts & Crafts movement’s heritage goes back to the Pre-Raphaelites and John Ruskin and William Morris in England in the mid 19th century. The origin of the English movement was a reaction against industrialization and a desire to revive handicrafts. In the beginning, the movement looked back to historical precedents, largely from the medieval period. However, by the 1880s, the Arts & Crafts movement in England was seeking to embody handicrafts in new forms without historical precedent, to design buildings rationally, and to have ornament proceed naturally from structure. It was this spirit of reviving handicrafts in forms without historical precedent which took hold in the U.S. at the turn of the 19th century and led to the development of what is considered to be one of the first truly American architectural styles, the Craftsman style.

The Shingle Style has been called the first American architectural style. Although it adapted, rather than rejected, historical precedent, the result was a new form not imitating any form found in Europe. Many decorative traits found in the Craftsman style are present in the Shingle Style. Both share an emphasis on handicrafts. Features common to both styles include the use of shingles on the exterior of the building, the emphasis on exposed beamed or coffered ceilings and interior wood joinery, the use of wainscoting, built-ins and inglenooks, and the prevalence of unpainted, dark wood interior trim. The Craftsman or Arts & Crafts style went a step further than the Shingle style by dropping all references to historical precedent. Detailing was to be based on the properties inherent in the materials and construction methods used and on the element’s function. For this reason, the American Craftsman style has been called the first “modern style.” The Craftsman bungalow was developed by the Greene brothers in Pasadena, California around 1903. The Craftsman bungalow quickly spread throughout the American suburbs as the result of its being given extensive publicity in architectural and popular magazines.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s earliest works were in the Shingle style. However, he quickly progressed to the Craftsman style which culminated in his revolutionary Prairie style. Frank Lloyd Wright departed from the early Arts & Crafts philosophy in that he believed that the machine should be mastered, rather than rejected. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style became well known in Europe, where its rejection of historical precedent and its use of geometric forms and simple wall surfaces lead to the development of what we think of as the “modern” style. This style returned to the United States in the form of the Art Deco style.

[I will now turn you over to your tour guide to continue your walk.] [We will now continue our walk.]

STOP 5: 390 Forest Avenue

ELAPSED TIME: 90 MINUTES

ALLOTED TIME: 12 MINUTES [9 minute talk, 3 minute house tour]

DOCENT SCRIPT

History of 390 Forest Avenue; Shingle Style Architecture

(Standing in front of 390 Forest Avenue)

390 Forest Avenue - History

We are now in the neighborhood which was developed as Soundview Park in the latter part of the 19th century.

I am going to tell you about the history of this house and then tell you about its architecture. This house was built in 1896 and 1897 as the summer house for a widow, Mary Henrietta Woodruff Powers. Her winter residence was a townhouse at 8 West 50th Street. In the 1890s, most of the houses on Milton Point, along Forest Avenue, and around the Kirby Mill Pond were summer houses owned by prominent, old New York City families. The arrival of the railroad in Rye in 1849 lead to the transformation of Rye from a farming community to a summer satellite of New York City because Manhattan residents could quickly take a train from the City to Rye, where they would be met by their horses and carriages for a short ride to their summer residences. This new accessibility even allowed men to commute to the City while they were summering in Rye with their families. These seasonal residents would start coming out to Rye in the spring and continue coming to Rye through the fall. This pattern was common through WWI.

I am going to give you a little of Mrs. Powers’ pedigree because it is typical of the families who had summer residences in Rye at the time. George W. Powers, her late husband, was a successful dry goods merchant in Manhattan who retired at the age of 40 to devote his time to serving on corporate and charitable boards. His grandfather was a messenger for George Washington in the Revolutionary War and other ancestors fought in the French & Indian War and the War of 1812. Mary Power’s grandfather presided over the laying of the corner stone of New York’s City Hall in 1802. He was the Speaker of the New York House and a major in the War of 1812. Mary was active in New York society and charity circles. She had a leadership role in balls supporting the New York Infant Asylum and the Metropolitan Opera. She donated funds for furnishing a ward and a private room at the Hahnemann Hospital.

Mrs. Powers rented a “cottage” in Soundview Park for the summer of 1896. While she was renting, she purchased 5 lots in Soundview Park totaling approximately 3 acres on which she built the house at 390 Forest Avenue, which also would have been referred to as a “summer cottage” at that time. In 1897, Mrs. Powers bought the remaining lots between Center and Lynden Streets and built the house at 380 Forest Avenue for her widowed daughter-in-law and her grandchildren. One of her grandchildren, Lansing Powers, lived at 380 Forest Avenue well into the 1920s. Mary Powers lived at 390 Forest Avenue with her bachelor son, George, Jr. The Powers were members of the American Yacht Club and the Apawamis Club. Mary Powers died in 1904.

Charles and Evelyn McManus purchased 390 Forest Avenue as their summer residence from Mary Powers’ estate in 1905. They paid $20,500 for the house, stable, and 3 acres. Charles McManus and his father, Thomas McManus, were builders and developers in Manhattan. Charles McManus built and owned a number of luxury apartment buildings there. He was a member of the Lambs Club in New York and the Indian Harbor and Larchmont Yacht Clubs, the New York Athletic Club, and the Green Meadow Club. At the time of his death, his winter residence was at 375 Park Avenue.

Thomas McManus opened a hotel at Rye Beach in 1886. As of 1896, Thomas and Charles McManus were summering at Rye Beach and Charles McManus was a member of the regatta committee at the Indian Harbor Yacht Club in Greenwich. Upon his father’s death in 1900, Charles McManus inherited more than 11 Acres in Rye Beach on which the Rye Beach Amusement Park was located. In 1901, Charles incorporated the Rye Beach Amusement Company to own the amusement park. The amusement park was operated by a lessee. Charles McManus died in 1924. Westchester County bought the amusement park from his estate in 1926.

In 1924, William Courtleigh, a noted actor at the time, purchased 390 Forest Avenue for his family’s year-round residence. The Courtleighs had lived in Rye in a house on 2 ¾ acres next to the Rye Country Club from 1916 until 1922, when they moved to Indian Village. In 1924 they had a 4th son and apparently needed more room. William Courtleigh was principally a stage actor. However, he starred in several silent movies including “Eyes of Youth” with Rudolf Valentino, “Pollyanna” with Mary Pickford, and “Madam X” with Pauline Frederick. During the 1920s, William Courtleigh acted in stage productions of a number of Shakespeare’s plays. Like Charles McManus, William Courtleigh was a member of the Lambs Club, of which he was president. He was a founding member of Actor’s Equity, and a trustee of the Player’s Club. The Player’s Club and the Lambs Club both were theater oriented clubs in Manhattan. William Courtleigh died in1930. By 1934, William’s widow had fallen on hard times and 390 Forest Avenue was sold at auction because of unpaid taxes, not an uncommon event during the Depression.

390 Forest Avenue - Architecture

The house at 390 Forest Avenue is a fine example of the Shingle style. Although the house’s architect is not known, it may have been designed by Frank A. Moore. Frank Moore designed the Apawamis clubhouse and a number of Shingle style houses in the area. His office was in Manhattan and he lived in Larchmont.

The Shingle style was popular from1880 until 1900. Unlike the craftsman style which was common throughout the United States, the Shingle style is mainly found in seaside resorts in the Northeast, where the style reached its pinnacle. Also, unlike the Craftsman style which is mostly found in smaller houses, the Shingle style was generally used for large, luxurious summer “cottages,” partially because of the expense of building in the style. The Shingle style has been called the first truly American architectural style and “a uniquely American adaptation of other traditions.” The historical styles incorporated in the Shingle style are the Queen Anne, the Colonial Revival, and the Richardsonian Romanesque. The wide porches, shingled surfaces, and asymmetrical massing comes from the Queen Anne style. The gambrel roofs, rambling lean-to wings, classical columns, and Palladian windows come from the Colonial Revival style. The irregular, sculptural shapes and Romanesque arches come from the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

Exterior characteristics of the Shingle style include: shingles covering and unifying most surfaces, asymmetrical massing, large porches usually carved out of the mass of the house, simple trim without corner boards, towers which are merged into the mass of the house, gambrel roofs, porch supports which are either simple, slender columns or massive piers, massive Romanesque arches at the entrance or porches, bay windows, Palladian windows, and eyebrow windows. You can see most of these features when you look at 390 Forest Avenue. There is a continuous covering of shingles flowing from the gambrel roof to the walls, a large porch which penetrates the mass of the house, a massive, stone Romanesque arch at the entry, simple window trim and no corner boards, a tower integrated into the mass of the house at the left rear corner, simple, slender columns supporting the porch, a Palladian window in the gable over the entrance, and eyebrow windows in the roof.

The most innovative aspect of the Shingle style was the interior plan of the houses. Shingle style houses were characterized by a new flow of space from room to room. This flow of space was adopted by Frank Lloyd Wright and, through him, became one of the hallmarks of modern architecture. Typically, a Shingle style house had a large living hall which contained the main stairway, room for furniture for people to sit and socialize, a wall of windows, and, often a fireplace with an inglenook. The parlor, library, dinning room, and perhaps other rooms radiated off the living hall through wide arches allowing for a flow of space between the living hall and the adjacent rooms. The plans were irregular and asymmetrical. Interior decorative details focused on wood trim and joinery which emphasized the building’s structure. Built-ins and wainscoting were common. Usually, dark, unpainted wood was used. Stained glass also was a common decorative feature.

[We will first visit the living hall of the house at 390 Forest Avenue and then the living hall of the house at 400 Forest Avenue, another excellent Shingle style interior. 400 Forest Avenue was built for J. Mayhew Wainwright in 1894 and was Col. Wainwright’s residence when he secured passage of the Rye Town Park legislation by the New York State legislature.] After you exit the second house, please board the mini-bus on Center Street which will take you to your last stop.

[The tour should enter the house at 390 Forest Avenue through the front door, view the front hall, view the rooms off the front hall while standing in the front hall and then exit through the front door. Point out the oak paneling in the hall, the Delft tiles around the dining room fireplace, the stained glass skylight (a replacement of the original), the window seats next to the front door, and the Dutch front door.]

[The tour should enter the house at 400 Forest Avenue through the front door, view the front hall, view the rooms off the front hall while standing in the front hall and then exit through the front door. Point out the flow of space between the hall and the surrounding rooms and note that the stairway is a typical Shingle style stair.]

STOP 6: 594 FOREST AVENUE

ELAPSED TIME: 107 MINUTES

ALLOTED TIME: 12 MINUTES [nine minute talk, 3 minute house tour]

DOCENT SCRIPT

Development of the Neighborhoods Surrounding Rye Town Park and Playland;

Architecture and History of 594 Forest Avenue

(Standing in front of 594 Forest Avenue)

Development of the Neighborhoods Surrounding Rye Town Park and Playland

We are now in the neighborhood which was called Oakland Beach Park when it was created in 1910. Before I say a few words about the history and architecture of the house at 594 Forest Avenue, I am going to tell you about the development of the neighborhoods surrounding Playland and Rye Town Park. Initially, all of the land was in large parcels, some of which were farmed in the 1700s and early 1800s. By the late 1800s, Rye had ceased to be a farming community because of the shift of agriculture further west after the opening of the Erie Canal and the arrival of the railroad making Rye real estate more valuable for the country houses of well-to-do New Yorkers than for farming. However, the land was still held in large parcels until the end of the 19th century. At that time, it had become obvious to some that the land close to Oakland Beach and Rye Beach could profitably be subdivided into smaller parcels and developed for summer “cottages” because of its combined proximity to the best beaches along the north shore of Long Island Sound and accessibility to Manhattan by railroad.

Soundview Park was the first neighborhood to be developed in the area around Oakland Beach and Rye Beach. In 1892, a subdivision map for Soundview Park was filed showing two sections. One was the area on the west side of Forest Avenue from Orchard Street to the south side of Apawamis Avenue and from Forest Avenue past Brown Avenue. Prior to being developed, this property had been owned by the Brown family, who had a farm on Milton Point starting in 1680. This section of Soundview Park was developed as planned. The other section was across Forest Avenue and went from what is now Beary Court through what is now Hook Road. This section was not developed as Soundview Park, rather it became 3 large estates- one belonging to L.C. Dimock (now Beary Court), one to Mulford Martin (now Martin Road and Heritage Lane), and one to Fred S. Wheeler (now Hook Road).

The conversion of Soundview Park from a single large parcel into a subdivision with roads and utilities began in 1892. The Port Chester Journal reported that “already the hillocks are disappearing and the valleys filling up.” The advertisements for Soundview Park emphasized both its location and that it would have all the modern improvements. The promotional literature said that there were gas mains and water mains and that the streets were macadamized. Most of Rye’s streets were not paved at that time. The literature also stated that “a short walk from [Soundview Park] is the famous resort Rye Beach, with its sand beach and bath houses,” that it is “33 minutes from Grand Central Depot to Rye Station,” and that it is “the healthiest spot in the wealthy county of Westchester – malarial diseases unknown.”

Restrictions contained in the deeds for property in Soundview Park included that the house to be built must cost no less than $4,000, that nothing other than a “dwelling house” and a “substantial stable” may be built, that the house must be set back at least 25 ft. from the street except for a “piazza, stoop, porte cochere, or a low iron or wire fence,” and that the property not be used for a number of purposes including a livery stable, a slaughter house, a manufacturing facility, or the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors. Zoning did not exist in 1892.

The first house to be built in Soundview Park was the “cottage” at 400 Forest Avenue which was built for Col. J. Mayhew Wainwright in 1894. Two additional “cottages” were built in Soundview Park in 1894, including the house at 418 Forest Avenue. By 1896, there were six “cottages” in Soundview Park, which had cost from $6,000 to $12,000 to build. Mrs. Powers paid $5,900 in 1896 for the property on which she built the house at 390 Forest Avenue and $8,000 in 1897 for the property at 380 Forest Avenue. By 1910, all of the houses in Soundview Park along Forest Avenue had been built.

The next neighborhood to be created was Lounsbury Park in 1901. Lounsbury Park contained Redfield Street and the part of Rye Beach Avenue running along the beach up to the Rye Beach Amusement Park. The land was owned by the Cowles Realty Company, a company belonging to the Cowles family of Milton Road. By 1908, five houses had been built along the north side of Redfield Street.

Ryan Park was subdivided in 1910 and contained the streets across from Soundview Park - that is the streets between Forest and Roosevelt Avenues from Wainwright Street through Sanford Street. The Ryan Park Realty Co. purchased the 33.3 acre property from the Roosevelt Hospital, which probably was left the property by James Roosevelt Brown (his mother was a Roosevelt) at the same time he left half of Milton Point to the hospital. Ryan Park was developed in three sections. Section 1 was Horton Street. Section 2 was Wainwright and Rosemere Streets. Section 3 was Adelaide and Sanford Streets. The first house was built in Ryan Park in 1910 on Roosevelt Avenue between Wainwright Street and Horton Street. Ryan Park was built out generally in the order the sections were numbered.

Rye Gate (the neighborhood which consists of Elmwood Street, Oakwood Street, and the adjacent sides of Forest and Rye Beach Avenues) was subdivided in 1912 by Simeon Ford, who had purchased the property from the Halsted family in 1906. Sixty houses were built at Rye Gate in seven years, mostly as summer houses.

The creation of Rye Town Park lead to the creation of additional neighborhoods in the area. As you have already heard, a number of the small summer rental cottages from Oakland Beach were moved to Bulkley Manor in 1909 when Rye Town Park was built. At that time, Josiah Bulkley owned 6.75 acres on Forest Avenue on which his home was located. Bulkley Manor was created on part of that property and Mr. Bulkley continued to live on the rest of the property. In 1909, Mrs. Sarah G. Douglass sold Locustwood, her 20 acre estate across Dearborn Avenue from Rye Town Park, to be developed into summer cottages.

By far the largest property to be subdivided at this time was the remaining property owned by the Halsted family after the sale of their property on the east side of Forest Avenue for Rye Town Park. As you have heard, Ezekiel Halsted purchased 84 acres between Oakland Beach and the Blind Brook in 1749 for farming. By the middle of the 19th century, the Halsteds owned most of the land running from what is now Playland Parkway to Hewlett Avenue and from Long Island Sound to the Blind Brook. However, by the mid-1800s, they had stopped farming the land, had turned it into luxurious country estates, and had built two elegant Federal style mansions – “The Elms” (1824) facing Rye Beach Avenue and “Pine Crest” facing Milton Road across from the Meeting House. The Oakland Beach Realty Company was formed by 1909 to develop some of the land.

The Halsted’s first, and largest, subdivision was Oakland Beach Park which was planned in 1909 and went roughly from Rye Beach Avenue to Dearborn Avenue and from Forest Avenue to Milton Road, excluding five acres around “The Elms” which were retained by Halsted descendants for their country estate until 1931. Oakland Beach Park was marketed for summer “cottages” and “bungalows” much the way Soundview Park had been marketed. A 1910 advertisement for Oakland Beach Park stated that it was “forty minutes from New York; short trolley ride from station” and that it had “macadam roads, cement sidewalks, excellent water, gas, electric light and telephone available now.” Electric lights and telephones had come into use since the development of Soundview Park. The promotional brochure for Oakland Beach Park capitalized on the fact that the neighborhood faced the new Town park. The brochure also stated that “Carefully considered restrictions that appeal to all purchasers of high class suburban property are inserted in every deed and guarantee for all time the exclusion of undesirable interests.” The first houses were built in Oakland Beach Park on Forest Avenue starting in 1910. The lots on Forest Avenue sold for $6,000. The Halsteds named some of the streets after their family. These streets include Halsted Place and Newberry Place which was named for either Augustus Halsted’s son or uncle, both of whom were named Newberry Halsted. Haywood Place was added later and named after Augustus Halsted’s wife, Amanda Haywood Halsted.

The Halsteds created a second subdivision named “Oakland Gardens” in 1911. Oakland Gardens covered Garden Drive, Orchard Drive, the adjacent east side of Milton Road and south side of Dearborn Avenue. The streets were named after Mrs. J. Henry Halsted’s gardens and orchard. The Halsteds developed the property bordered by Dearborn and Oakland Beach Avenues and Milton Road and Newberry Place at “Milton Gardens.” That subdivision was largely built out by 1929. A subdivision of the property which had been retained around “The Elms” had been filed by 1929 and named “Halsted” Gardens.” However it had not yet been developed.

The Architecture and History of 594 Forest Avenue

The house at 594 Forest Avenue was built in Oakland Beach Park in 1910 as a summer cottage. After WWII, Debbie Murphy, a well known Big Band singer, lived in the house with her husband, who was Rosemary Clooney’s agent. During her residency, the house was well known for being the site of her large parties which filled the gracious main hall with many lively guests, probably including Rosemary Clooney. That gracious main hall also is said to have been used to film scenes for the 1924 Mary Pickford movie “Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall.”

594 Forest Avenue is an example of the American Arts and Crafts movement. The stucco walls and tile roof make this house a less typical Craftsman bungalow than those on Sanford Street. However, 594 Forest Avenue is by no means a unique example of the genre. The house contains all the hallmarks of the Craftsman bungalow - the one and a half storey mass surrounded by a wide porch, the shallow pitch roof, and the dormers with their roof structure exposed and rafters extending well beyond the walls. In the case of this house, the dormer facing the Sound originally was an open “sleeping porch,” a common feature before air conditioning. Another interesting feature reflecting an earlier era is the stairway to the porch from the porte cochere. You will notice that the step facing the porte cochere is at a height appropriate for exiting a horse drawn carriage. In 1910, the automobile was not yet the norm for transportation.

The interior detailing of this house is eclectic. It contains excellent examples of Arts and Crafts interior detailing alongside equally excellent Colonial Revival features. The fireplace in the front hall is an outstanding example of the Arts and Crafts style. Take special notice of the tiles surrounding the fireplace. The dining room is a perfect Arts and Crafts interior. Once again, the fireplace is notable. The built-in sideboard, ceiling beams, and wainscoting all are typical of a well developed Arts and Crafts interior. Originally, all of the woodwork in the house was the same unpainted dark wood as the sideboard wall of the dining room and the over mantel in the front hall. The elliptical arch and stairway at the rear of the main hall are excellent examples of Colonial Revival design, as are the fluted pilasters in the main hall and dining room. As in Shingle Style houses, the front hall is the largest room in the house. The front hall and the large porch were intended to be the principal living spaces.

Now we will enter the house to see an Arts and Crafts interior.

[The tour should enter the house through the front door, stop in the front hall, then go through the arch into the dining room, through the dining room into the kitchen, through kitchen to the stair way, across the stair landing and back into the main hall. The tour should the exit through the front door.]

TOUR GUIDE SCRIPT

CONCLUSION

This is the final stop on our tour. I hope that you enjoyed the tour and have gained a deeper appreciation for Rye’s history. I also hope that you will consider becoming a member of the Rye Historical Society if you are not a member already.

We would appreciate your completing the questionnaire that I will hand you in which you can give us your feedback on the tour. [You can drop off the questionnaires where you parked your car.]

We hope that future tours to be sponsored by the Rye Historical Society will focus on different areas of town and different periods of history. We look forward to seeing you on those future tours.

You can enter Rye Town Park through the gate across the street from this house and walk through the park to your car.

Thank you for joining us today. [TOTAL ELAPSED TIME: 120 minutes]