Pinehurst Park Pavilion
Pinehurst Park Pavilion
| Address | 780 Boston Rd |
| Built | 1901 |
| Demolished | 1950 |
| Other Lot Structures | Pinehurst Drive-In (1951 - 1983) |
The pavilion was the dance hall of Pinehurst Park, the trolley park that opened in 1901 on the east bank of the Shawsheen River at the corner of Boston Road and Cook Street, beside the line of the Lowell & Boston Street Railway. The park took in about twelve acres between Boston Road, the river, the old Wilmington Road (the first course of Cook Street) and the Beard farm. On E. P. Sellew's survey of July 26, 1912, filed with the Land Court when the land was registered, the pavilion is the only building on the grounds: a long hall with a porch at each end, standing about 100 feet back from the Wilmington Road and some 300 feet from Boston Road.
Oscar H. Bicknell and his wife Helen owned the park when the Land Court confirmed their title on August 1, 1913. A month later they sold it to John Joseph McHugh of Woburn, who gave a $4,000 mortgage to Lawrence C. Swain. J. Joseph McHugh, as he was usually called, was already living at the park in 1912 and is listed as its manager in the directories of 1916 and 1919. In 1915 the town's Committee on Building By-Laws held a public hearing, at the request of the Pinehurst Improvement Association, "at the Pavilion at Pinehurst Park, which was loaned for this purpose by Mr. J. Joseph McHugh." More than 100 people came, representing all the districts of a section that had "a summer population of between four thousand and five thousand people." In 1918 the title passed to his wife, Elizabeth K. McHugh.
The dance hall was one of the summer resort halls the town licensed and watched. In 1923 the police reported that conditions in the Pinehurst district had "improved somewhat, particularly at Pinehurst Park," and in 1926 the selectmen placed policewomen on duty "at the dance halls in Pinehurst Park and Nutting's Pond." Edward J. Fahey ran the park and a lunch stand in 1931. That year Elizabeth McHugh leased part of the grounds to Raphael Guanci for ten years; the lease was cancelled in 1933, when Ciriaco Guanci took a $2,500 mortgage on the property. In 1931 the county relocated Cook Street, and the old line of the Wilmington Road along the north side of the park became an abandoned way.
The 1941 directory still lists the "Pinehurst Park Dance Hall" on Cook Street and the "Pinehurst Park picnic grounds" on Boston Road; in 1942 only the picnic grounds are listed. From 1934 the Gulf companies leased the corner at Cook Street for a filling station, and in 1940 the Pinehurst Company, Inc. leased part of the grounds for ten years, a lease given up in 1942, when the first small lots on Boston Road were sold off. In July 1951 Elizabeth K. McHugh sold the rest of the park land to the Pinehurst Amusement Center, Inc., which built the Pinehurst Drive-In theatre on it that year. The office park at 780 Boston Road has stood on the site since 1984.
References
- Town report 1915, Committee on Building By-Laws: public hearing "at the Pavilion at Pinehurst Park, which was loaned for this purpose by Mr. J. Joseph McHugh," attended by over 100 persons
- Town report 1926, selectmen: policewomen placed on duty "at the dance halls in Pinehurst Park and Nutting's Pond"
Title References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2, 1913 | Certificate of Title | Land Court decree (Case 3717), August 1, 1913 | Oscar H. Bicknell and Helen Bicknell of Billerica, husband and wife, each an undivided half | Land Court registration of the park land by the Bicknells, 1913 (Plan 3717-A shows the pavilion) | Ctf 444 |
Original certificate on the decree of August 1, 1913 in Land Court Case 3717, registered August 2, 1913. The land of Pinehurst Park: southeasterly by Wilmington Road about 1,045 feet, southwesterly by Boston Road on the upland about 622 feet, northwesterly by the Shawsheen River, and northerly by land of S. Percy Beard et al about 923 feet, as shown on the plan by E. P. Sellew, surveyor, dated July 26, 1912 (Land Court Plan 3717-A), which draws a single building, the pavilion, near the Wilmington Road. Cancelled the next month by Certificate 458.
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| September 3, 1913 | Certificate of Title | Oscar H. Bicknell and Helen Bicknell of Billerica | John J. McHugh of Woburn (16 Eaton Avenue), unmarried | J. Joseph McHugh buys Pinehurst Park, 1913 | Ctf 458 |
Transfer certificate from Certificate 444, the same land on Plan 3717-A. Memoranda: mortgage to Lawrence C. Swain, $4,000 for three years at 6 percent (Document 642, September 3, 1913), assigned to the Woburn National Bank in 1917; Middlesex County taking for the relocation of Boston Road (Document 1253, April 29, 1916); attachment by George H. Partridge, $500 (1916). J. Joseph McHugh lived at Pinehurst Park in 1912 and was its manager in 1916 and 1919. Cancelled by Certificate 1082.
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| February 18, 1918 | Certificate of Title | John J. McHugh of Woburn | Elizabeth K. McHugh of Woburn, married to John J. McHugh | title to Elizabeth K. McHugh, 1918; Guanci lease 1931-1933; Cook Street relocated 1931 | Ctf 1082 |
Transfer certificate from Certificate 458, the same land on Plan 3717-A. Later memoranda: mortgages to Lawrence C. Swain, $500 (1921), David H. Dane, $2,500 (1923) and John B. Keaney, $1,600 (1924); lease of part of the premises to Raphael Guanci for ten years (Document 9434, May 20, 1931); Middlesex County taking for the relocation of Cook Street (Document 9692, November 17, 1931); cancellation of the Guanci lease and a $2,500 mortgage to Ciriaco Guanci (Documents 10454 and 10455, September 2, 1933). Cancelled, and Certificate 4586 issued in its place.
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| February 18, 1918 | Certificate of Title | John J. McHugh of Woburn (replacement of Certificate 1082) | Elizabeth K. McHugh of Woburn, married to John J. McHugh | Elizabeth K. McHugh title; Gulf and Pinehurst Company leases; lots sold off 1942-1957 | Ctf 4586 |
Transfer certificate from Certificate 458, issued to take the place of the cancelled Certificate 1082, with the same date (February 18, 1918), owner and land on Plan 3717-A. Its memoranda carry the earlier encumbrances and: leases of part of the premises to the Gulf Refining Company (1934, five years at $50 a month) and the Gulf Oil Corporation (1939 and 1940, for the filling station at the corner of Cook Street); attachment (1939) and execution for $3,430.06 (1940) by Ciriaco Guanci; lease of part to the Pinehurst Company, Inc. of Billerica (July 5, 1940, ten years at $50 a month), cancelled July 17, 1942; deeds of Lot A (1942) and Lot B (1948) on Boston Road to Peter Georges (Certificates 6141 and 7636); an agreement about Cook Street (1942); a grant of rights to the Lowell Electric Light Corporation (1945); the deed of Lot 1 to Pinehurst Amusement Center, Inc. of Boston, July 31, 1951 (Document 22066, Certificate 8447); and deeds of Lots 2 to 4 at Cook Street to Roy Bros., Inc. (1951, 1954) and Sue Castrichini (1957).
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| August 2, 1951 | Certificate of Title | Elizabeth K. McHugh | Pinehurst Amusement Center, Inc., of Boston | park land sold to Pinehurst Amusement Center, Inc. for the drive-in, 1951 | Ctf 8447 |
Partial transfer certificate from Certificate 4586, on the deed of Elizabeth K. McHugh dated July 31, 1951 (Document 22066): Lot 1 on the subdivision plan by Fred A. Joyce, surveyor, July 31, 1951 (Land Court Plan 3717-D), the old park land between Boston Road, the Shawsheen River, the Beard and John A. Akeson land, the abandoned Wilmington Road and Cook Street (525.83 feet), less Lots A and B on Boston Road and the McHugh corner lot at Cook Street. The company gave a $40,000 mortgage to Aldrich S. Forward on August 1, 1951, and the drive-in theatre was built on the land that year. Cancelled in 1960 by Certificate 11639.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted; Probate # is a Middlesex probate case, Ctf a Land Court certificate of title.