Saturday, February 07, 2009

Boat House


A story in the SJR today reports that the Washington Park lagoon will once again have a boat house, thanks to an anonymous half-million dollar donation.

Designed by famed landscape architect Jens Jensen, the boathouse was built in 1914 and stood until the 1960s, when it was torn down.

I remember ice-skating on the lagoon in the 1950s. We went into the boat house to warm up by a pot-bellied stove and sip hot cocoa provided by the Girl Scouts, at five cents a cup.

But that building was on the south side of the lagoon and it was shingle-style, all closed in. This postcard drawing may be of an earlier boat house, built in 1903.

Do you remember the boat house, the concession stand and natural spring, the riding stables west of the park? So do the commenters on the SJR story.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't remember anything being between the lagoon and the road in the 40s or 50s so the one we remember must be a later version than the photo. I think I spent most of my childhood in Washington Park, one of my "best remembered" places in Springfield. I knew every nook and cranny in that park.

Barbara

Anonymous said...

I collect postcards of Washington Park. There was a boathouse just like the one pictured. It was on the lower lagoon. I do not know the date the boathouse was torn down as the only date I have on one of the postcards is 1921.
There was also a concession stand at the lower lagoon that I do remember going to many summer nights for a lemonade. I think it was town down in the late 40's or early 50's. Someone might have a better memory than I do on this. I think the park district had trouble renting the structure and finally tore it down.
In addition there was an iron spring on the lower lagoon. It was an open structure similar to a pergola.
Ann Tobin Hart