This is the third of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA. We continue our review of USA racetracks with two further state in which tracks are now closed :
Rhode Island –
Narraganset Trotting Park (old track), Cranston
Narragansett Trotting Park a race track that once existed between present day Park Avenue, Gansett Avenue and Spectacle Pond in Cranston, Rhode Island. The track opened on 31 July 1867 with Cornelius Vanderbilt and J.P. Morgan in attendance. The sixty seven acre park was built by Colonel Amasa Sprague (son of the Amasa Sprague for whose murder John Gordon was convicted, executed and subsequently pardoned posthumously in 2011) in a triangle of land bordered by Park and Gansett Avenues.
Sprague spent $80,000 to build, featuring a grandstand large enough for a hotel inside it – reported in 1867 as “A comfortable hotel was under full headway in the penetralia of the establishment…” The establishment was liquor free, “on a strictly temperance plan, not even ale being allowed to be sold on the ground.” The 1 August 1867 Journal’s headline proclaimed in bold “Racing Week” and below that, “Inauguration of Narragansett Park.”
In 1873 the Sprague’s went bankrupt in a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and Britain. When the banking firm of Jay Cooke and Company, a firm heavily invested in railroad construction closed its doors on 18 September 1873, a major economic panic swept the nation. The result for Narragansett Trotting Park was its closure for a period of time. Jay Eye See became the first 2:10 trotter on 1 August 1884 when reducing the NA Trotters Mile record to T2:10.0TT at Narragansett Trotting Park.
The Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry purchased the park in 1886 establishing the Rhode Island State Fair there. Frederick E. Perkins bought the property in 1890 becoming president of the Fair. The last fair took place on 5 -9 September 1898 having expanded to incorporate quilts and needlework for display with anyone bringing a loaf of bread or a cake getting a free exhibitor’s ticket.
Harness racing’s heydays were soon eclipsed by automotive racing. The first official oval-track race (closed course racetrack) in the U.S., recognized by NASCAR, sponsored by an automaker, took place at Narragansett Trotting Park in Cranston, Rhode Island on 7 September 1896 with seven cars starting, although only four were able to average 15 mph as the rules required.
While the one mile dirt oval at the state fairgrounds was normally reserved for horse racing more than 60,000 spectators watched the seven vehicles participate in the “Providence Horseless Carriage Race.” Perkins laid down a fast clay track in 1907 and in 1915 a banked, asphalt oval “Super Speedway,” the first asphalt track in the world resulted in the park being renamed Narragansett Speedway.
In 1916 the property was acquired by Paul Castiglioni, Antonio Capelli and Fred Suter. The last race at Narragansett Park Speedway took place on 5 August 1923 with a crowd of 12,000 in attendance. “Considerable criticism was expressed because of the lack of seats, the grandstand and all of the five bleachers having been deemed unsafe for use.”
On 14 April 1924 a grass fire whipped up by high wind quickly caused $20,000 damage to the aging structures sealing Narragansett Park’s fate. Grand circuit racing at the track had spanned the period of its operations from 1867 to 1924. In 1925 the park was sold to a developer and the grandstand, gates and remaining buildings demolished, some of the land being sold into house lots. Part of the site became an athletic field which Mayor Arthur A. Rhodes spent $30,000 to build in 1928. A decade later, Mayor Ernest L. Sprague obtained federal government funds to turn the field into Cranston Stadium, a WPA (Works Project Administration) project. In 1933 when construction of a racetrack began in Pawtucket, the name of Narragansett Race Track was revised and utilised there until 1978.
Narraganset Park, Pawtucket
The “second” Narragansett Park operated from 1934 to 1978 providing both thoroughbred and harness racing. Located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, now known as Fiat Avenue, it was referred to by locals as ‘Gansett’.
Rhode Island voters approved a measure legalising pari-mutuel betting by an almost 3 to 1 margin on 18 May 1934. The following day the Narragansett Racing Association announced plans for a $1 million race track and steeplechase course on the site of the former What Cheer Airport, filing articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State for Rhode Island. The track was named after Narragansett Park, the former trotting park in Cranston.
The Narragansett Racing Association was awarded the state’s first horse racing permit on 6 June 1934. Construction of the track was completed in under two months costing $1.2 million. The one mile oval included a grandstand seating 14,000, clubhouse, 270 betting and paying windows and twenty two barns with stalls for more than 1,000 horses. A new four lane highway led to the entrance of the track with a double track railway line built near the stands.
Opening on 1 August 1 with 37,281 attending, an eight race thoroughbred meeting featured with betting of $351,482. Labor Day 1934 drew a Rhode Island record crowd of 53,922 patrons, part of the reason for Narragansett Park’s success in its earliest years. In 1934 the Rhode Island government received over $800,000 in revenue from the track, which was more than 10% of the state’s entire budget. Champion and legendary galloper Seabiscuit broke his maiden status at Narragansett on 22 June 1935 equalling the five-furlong track record which he broke by a full second when winning again four days later. From the time it opened to September 30, 1936 it posted a net profit of $2,017,381.54.
Narragansett was the venue for a number of notable harness racing events in 1940 – American and National Stake races for two and three year pacers and trotters as well as the open class trots Goldsmith Maid and Messenger.
Racetrack popularity continued until it began a slow decline in the 1950’s with two of the track’s barns burnt down on 9 October 1950, ten horses killed and damages estimated to be between $350,000 and $500,000. In the 1970’s a reduction in public interest in live racing and competition with other New England tracks over race dates, greyhounds and state lotteries which added to falling attendances and reduced betting. The condition of the track deteriorated and another fire on 23 March 1976 resulted in the loss of thirty six horses when it spread from the hay barn to two adjacent stables.
The Beach Boys performed at Narragansett Park on 2 September 1977 before an audience of 40,000, the largest concert audience in Rhode Island history. The stretch of street where the concert stage stood (the corner of 455 Narragansett Park Drive) was renamed Beach Boys Way in 2017. On Labor Day 1978 (4 September), the final day of the thoroughbred racing season and the date of closure of Narragansett Park only 2,882 patrons were in attendance.
On 23 June 1979, Narragansett Park stockholders voted to sell the track to the City of Pawtucket for $5.6 million. A grant from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development was used by the city to buy and improve the land, which they sold to developers at below market value to stimulate employment and business investment.
The clubhouse was destroyed by a suspicious fire on 30 May 1981, the grandstand wall the only remaining part of the track was the location of the Narragansett Flea Market and later a Building 19 store – a chain of discount stores in New England from 1964 until it declared bankruptcy in 2013.
Roger Williams Park, Providence
Known as the Peoples Park, Roger Williams Park represents Rhode Island’s rich and diverse history. An elaborately landscaped 427 acre (173 ha) city park with an historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Named after Roger Williams, the founder of the city of Providence and the primary founder of the state of Rhode Island.
The land for the park was gifted to the people of Providence in 1872, in accordance with a bequest included in the will of Betsey Williams, who inherited the land as the last descendant of Roger Williams, her great, great, great grandfather. It had been the family farm and was the last of the original land granted to Roger Williams in 1638 by Canonicus, chief of the Narragansett tribe. The family farmhouse was built in 1773 and now known as the Betsey Williams Cottage; the cottage and the Williams family burial ground (including Betsey’s grave) are maintained within the park.
The original bequest consisted of 102 acres of farm and woodland, in 1891 additional land to the south was purchased at a cost of $359,000. Mostly unimproved land that was covered with woods and ponds, bringing the total area to approximately four hundred acres.
Horace Cleveland, a leader in the Urban Parks Movement, created the design for the Park in 1878 with construction taking place during the 1880’s. Twenty years after Betsey William’s bequest, the Park had quadrupled in size with daily attendance’s growing to 15,000 visitors. The natural history museum was opened in 1895. The park contains seven lakes comprising approximately 98 acres/40 ha and is located in the southernmost part of Providence bordering the city of Cranston. Many of the roads, bridges, and sidewalks were built by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1940.
A one mile harness track formed part of Roger Williams Park with Grand Circuit racing taking place from 1885 to 1907. The race track was located where currently the Elephant Exhibit is in the Roger Williams Park Zoo.
The Rhode Island Foundation began renovation efforts in the park in 2016 as part of their centennial celebrations beginning with the historic bandstand in December. Other park buildings and entrances were to be renovated and in June 2017, a dedicated bike and pedestrian lane was added to Frederick Green Memorial Boulevard.
The Park contains a Zoo, Museum, Botanical Centre, Japanese Gardens, Victorian Rose Gardens, Providence Police Department’s Mounted Command centre, Dalrymple Boathouse and boat rentals, historical tours, Carousel Village, “Hasbro Boundless Playground” accessible by physically challenged children, Temple to Music, Casino and many miles of walking paths. It plays host to family picnics, community festivals, weddings and running groups with over 1.5 million visitors annually from within and outside the state.
Nebraska –
Lincoln Nebraska State Fairgrounds
Opened in 1859 for the State Fair which it hosted until 1871 then being co-host of the Nebraska State Fair with Omaha until 1901. In 1901 it was eventually decided that the Lancaster County Fairgrounds would become the permanent home of the fair. The city of Lincoln has extended far enough for the fairgrounds to now fall within the city limits and are located on State Fair Park Drive, Lincoln.
Standardbreds were part of the state fair until 1901 racing on the half mile Lincoln racetrack at the showgrounds. Since 1901 thoroughbreds have been the annual horse racing attraction together with the opportunity to engage in betting activities. No notable standardbreds raced at Lincoln although one made the first hundred lists for North American 2:10 and 2:05 performers –Strathberry 2:04¼, 31 October 1895.
Lyons Kite Track
Lyons a city in Burt County, Nebraska was the venue for a kite track in the late nineteenth century. Kite tracks were a radical new design for mile tracks that targeted lowering speed records, consisting of two straights and one bend, each of one third of a mile length. The start and finish were at the apex of the kite where the two stretches met, therefore horses had only one bend to contend with.
One of the finest kite trotting tracks in the country opened in 1891 a quarter of a mile west of Lyons. Famous horses broke world records and won large purses on the kite shaped race track before hard time’s ended racing after the 1893 meetings. On three occasions in 1892 Online reduced the pacers two year mile record, taking his own record equalling 2:16¼ set at Lyons (2 August; equal with Manager’s time set at Independence two years earlier) down to his best of 2:11.0TT on 14 October 1892 at Lyons.
Next Article : Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin
Peter Craig
3 August 2022
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
