Dolan's Casino Rollerway
Dolan's Casino Rollerway
| Address | Water St |
| Built | 1925 |
| Tenants | |
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Dolan's Casino (1925 - 1940)
Dolan's Casino Rollerway (1941 - 1955) |
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Dolan's Casino was a dance hall, and later a roller skating rink, on the north shore of Nuttings Lake, on a lot of about 17,600 square feet at the corner of the Middlesex Turnpike and Water Street. The lot was the southeasterly corner of the forty-acre homestead of Peter Dolan, which passed to his son Francis J. Dolan and, after Francis died in 1942, to his widow Alice M. Dolan by deeds of his heirs and of Florence E. Grant in December 1944.
In the 1920s Nutting's Lake was a summer resort of camps and cottages, and the town licensed the dance halls at its resorts, collecting $150 a year in dance hall fees from 1922, three halls at $50 each in 1929. The 1925 directory lists Dolan's Casino on Water Street at Nuttings Lake among the town's places of amusement, with Pinehurst Park, and in 1926 the selectmen placed policewomen "on duty at the dance halls in Pinehurst Park and Nutting's Pond." The 1931 directory still lists Francis J. Dolan as the proprietor of Dolan's Casino at Nutting's Lake.
By 1941 the building was a roller skating rink, the Casino Rollerway, run by Alice M. Dolan, which advertised in the Howe High School yearbooks until 1953. On July 1, 1955 she sold "the land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon, being a roller-skating rink" to Guy H. and Anne B. Scott, bounded northeasterly by the Middlesex Turnpike 76.20 feet, by a curve at the corner of Water Street 26.23 feet, northwesterly by Water Street 86 feet, westerly by land of Irene Hughes 151 feet, southerly by Nuttings Lake 88 feet, and easterly and southeasterly by land of MacLennan; the Scotts gave her a mortgage of $6,000. The same year a town meeting article, submitted by Alexander B. Horsfall and others, asked the town to establish a public playground on Nuttings Lake "by purchasing land and building of Scott's Roller Skating Rink, for a sum not to exceed $10,000." The lot is vacant today.
References
- Lowell Suburban Directory 1925, business directory, Amusements, Billerica: "Dolan's Casino, Water Nuttings Lake" and Pinehurst Park
- Billerica town report 1924, selectmen: "The dance halls at the several resorts have been patronized by an unusually large number during the past year"
- Billerica town report 1926, selectmen: policewomen "on duty at the dance halls in Pinehurst Park and Nutting's Pond"
- Billerica town report 1929, licenses: "Dance halls, 3 @ 50.00, 150.00"
Deed References
| Date | Type | Grantor | Grantee | Summary | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 18, 1910 | Quitclaim | Florence E. Grant of Chelmsford | Johanna Dolan (widow of Peter) and Francis J. Dolan of Billerica | Homestead of Peter Dolan to Johanna and Francis J. Dolan, 1910; title for the rink lot | 454/216 |
Recorded July 18, 1910. For $1, the same 40-acre homestead "with all the buildings thereon formerly known as the homestead of Charles Stearns, deceased, and more recently known as the homestead of Peter Dolan, deceased" and the Crosby lot, to Peter's widow and their son Francis "as joint tenants and not as tenants in common"; "Being all and the same premises to me conveyed by William J. Lyons et als, by deed of even date".
Title from:
Title passed to:
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| January 12, 1945 | Quitclaim | Francis A. Dolan, Rita C. Dolan, Mary E. Dolan, John W. Dolan and Alice E. Hughes, heirs of Francis J. Dolan | Alice M. Dolan of Billerica, widow of Francis J. Dolan | Heirs of Francis J. Dolan to his widow Alice M. Dolan, 1944 | 1018/252 |
Dated Dec. 23, 1944, recorded Jan. 12, 1945. All the real estate of Francis J. Dolan (died intestate Jan. 20, 1942, probate 232734), including the forty-acre "homestead of Peter Dolan" beginning "at the southeasterly corner of the premises at Nuttings Pond at the Middlesex Turnpike", the eight-acre "Crosby Lot" and a 12 1/2-acre wood lot east of the Turnpike, excepting earlier conveyances (Johanna Dolan 1911, the Indian Knoll Terrace lots, George M. Dixon 1923 and 1936, Henry B. Dolan and Blanche S. Dolan 1941).
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| January 12, 1945 | Deed | Florence E. Grant of Chelmsford | Alice M. Dolan of Billerica | Florence E. Grant's one-ninth to Alice M. Dolan, 1944 | 1018/257 |
Dated Dec. 28, 1944, recorded Jan. 12, 1945. The one-ninth undivided interest in the real estate of Francis J. Dolan that Grant had bought the same day from Alice M. Dolan as guardian of Irene M. Dolan (Book 1018, Page 255).
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| July 6, 1955 | Quitclaim | Alice M. Dolan of Billerica, widow | Guy H. Scott and Anne B. Scott of Billerica, as joint tenants | Alice M. Dolan sells the roller-skating rink to Guy H. and Anne B. Scott, 1955 | 1299/423 |
Dated July 1, 1955, acknowledged July 5, recorded July 6, 1955. "The land in said Billerica, with the buildings thereon--being a roller-skating rink": northeasterly by the Middlesex Turnpike 76.20 feet; northerly by a curve at the intersection with Water Street 26.23 feet; northwesterly by Water Street 86 feet; westerly by land of Irene Hughes 151 feet; southerly by Nuttings Lake 88 feet; easterly by land of MacLennan 80 feet and southeasterly 57.32 feet; 17,600 square feet. Title from Book 454, Page 216 and Book 1018, Pages 252 and 257.
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| July 6, 1955 | Mortgage | Guy H. Scott and Anne B. Scott of Billerica | Alice M. Dolan of Billerica | The Scotts' $6,000 mortgage back to Alice M. Dolan, 1955 | 1299/424 |
Recorded July 6, 1955. Mortgage of the roller-skating rink lot to secure $6,000, payable $50 a month from August 1, 1955 with interest at five per cent.
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Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.