Take a step back in time..
The following is, for the most part, an anecdotal history of the Beach Club. We wish to thank Dr. Albert Underhilll and Mrs. Lee Listro, both of whom provided so much of the history which is presented herein. If your personal Beach Club history contains any other pertinent details that would be of value to this chronicle, please feel free to contact us so that we can include whatever relevant information you might provide.
In 1928, development of Bonnet Shores started as a summer residential community by the Belton Corporation. The original plans proposed a 9-hole golf course between Camden Avenue and Bonnet Shores Road. Some house lots originally sold for $500. By 1935, 64 cottages had been built.
The Beach Club history also began in 1928. Between 1928 and 1938, Beach Club life was split between two locations. The Bonnet Shores Clubhouse and its attending social life were at the corner of Bonnet Shores Road and Colonel John Gardner Road. This was the center of Bonnet Shores social activities. The beach across the street from the then Clubhouse was called the Clubhouse Beach.
Prior to 1938, the Clubhouse Beach (presently called Little Beach) was a sandy beach and was designated for still water bathing. Daily swim instruction was given here. In addition, a children’s day camp was run in this area. Moreover, horse stables were located at this Clubhouse location and one could rent horses to ride on designated trails.
The Hurricane of 1938 ended the social activity at the Clubhouse location at the corner of Bonnet Shores Road and Col. John Gardner Road. The Clubhouse itself sustained heavy damage, but two parts of the building survived and they remain to this day as two separate houses. In addition, the hurricane eroded the sand at the Clubhouse Beach to such an extent that it became the rocky beach that Little Beach still is today.
The other location was where our Beach Club presently sits. This area was called the Bonnet Shores Private Beach. This second location had a pavilion with a main deck and the beach here was designated for real surf bathing.
The facility at this location began with the construction of 71 bathhouses. But the stock market crash of 1929 stopped all construction, both at the Beach Club and in Bonnet Shores itself.
Construction eventually resumed, including the addition of 46 live-in beach cabanas at this second location. The main deck at this location provided an area for sitting in the shade. A long and sturdy canopy was built on the deck under which were three rows of benches that ran the full length of the canopy.
The building and the deck at this location also sustained heavy damage as a result of the Hurricane of 1938, but, unlike the Bonnet Shores Road location, the building at our present location was rebuilt following the hurricane. The canopy was also heavily damaged in the hurricane, but was rebuilt and remained on the main deck into the 1950s.
In 1945, the Beach Club was acquired by the Narragansett Development Co. Inc. The principals in the corporation were Frank Crook and J. Howard McGrath. McGrath was a former Rhode Island Governor (1940 – 1945) who would go on to become a U.S. Senator (1946 – 1949) and the U.S. Attorney General (1949 – 1952).
Harry Bodwell served as the Beach Club Manager for
these two gentlemen. Interestingly, Bodwell had been
one of the original developers of Bonnet Shores back in 1928.
In addition, he had been a member of the RI House of
Representatives (1914 – 1921) as well as a RI Senator (1928 - 1937).
Through the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, life and construction continued at the Beach Club. New construction included the addition of four bowling alleys, a restaurant, and a 44’ x 60’ function room, all on the west side of the pit. The function room was used to show movies and to hold dances and other activities.
During this time, in addition to bathhouses and trays, there were a
number of live-in cabanas that were rented by the season.
The Beach Club held bowling banquets in this function room. In the 1950s, duck pin bowling leagues were very popular at the Beach Club. Children’s bowling was held during the day. Teenage Bowling was held on certain evenings, as was Men’s Bowling and Ladies Bowling. The bowling allies were run by Charles Moss, a Warwick High School Teacher.
The pin boys, who were all under Mr. Moss’s supervision, actually
lived on the property in what is now the back live-in building (the
Quonset Hut with the four units). It was well
known that the hottest job at the Beach Club, even hotter than that of a
life guard, was the job of a pin boy in the bowling alleys.
This room was also used for Fire District meetings in view of the fact that the Community Center had not yet been built. Indeed, the social life of the Fire District took place mainly in the function room (which was commonly referred to as “the Recreation Room”) because most of the Fire District belonged to the Beach Club.
Many functions were run by the Bonnet Shores Woman’s Club; these
functions included Fashion Shows, Dinner Dances, as well as afternoon
Ladies Bridge Club parties.
In the 1940s, the restaurant was a fine dining room where men wore
jackets and ties and ladies wore dresses. By the
1950s, the restaurant area had become an eating area for the Snack Bar,
which at that time was called The Spa.
The life guards also lived on the property. They
were housed in the area of the present cabana #229.
The life guards and the pin boys also ate all their meals in the Spa.
The pit was always the open air area that it is now. In the distant past, one could find there a children’s ball game which was called tetherball and which was enjoyed by many a youngster. The game consisted of a tall pole with a ball that was attached to this pole by a long rope. The goal of the game was to strike the ball so that it would wind around the pole in an upward direction. The winner of the game was the person who could make the ball wind around the pole all the way to the top.
At the northern end of the pit, there was a volleyball court.
Volleyball games in the pit were very popular among young male
adults; they attracted not only players but scores of spectators.
Shuffleboard was also played in the pit but was eliminated after
the Hurricane of 1954.
The Office used to be in the area where cabana 243 currently is. The area where the Office presently is formerly housed the trays from the 1950s to the 1970s.
The term “tray” refers to a relatively inexpensive way in which one could be a member of the Beach Club. A member would report to the business counter in this area and would receive a “tray” (which was originally a wooden box); then the member would proceed to a large area behind the counter which housed un-assigned bathhouses (which were actually changing rooms) and public showers.
Keeping in mind the etiquette of the day, the members were completely
segregated by sex in this area which was then called the tray house.
The men used the bathhouses and showers on the right side of the
area and the woman used the bathhouses and showers on the left side.
The member would utilize one of the bathhouses to change clothes
and then would place his clothes in the “tray”, which he returned to the
counter where it was stored. At the end of the day,
the process was repeated.
An umbrella shack existed at the Beach Club for decades.
Initially, the shack was on the beach and was where one could
store one’s own beach umbrella, beach chair, or similar items for a fee
of $2 per item per season. Then, upon one’s arrival
at the beach, an umbrella boy would set up the umbrella and the chair on
the beach. But the umbrella shack evolved also.
In 1961, it was decided to build an umbrella hut to rent out
umbrellas for the day. This was located in the area
under the main deck where the two main deck ramps currently meet and
where the walkway from the beach to the pit currently is found.
It lasted only two seasons because the area would become
over-topped with sand. The umbrella shack then moved
to another location where it remained through the 1970s.
In 1961, the Narragansett Development Corporation was bought by a group of shareholders. The group was made up of Dr. Albert Underhill, Cliff Hall, Bill Edgerly, Lloyd and Bill Broomhead (who each held ½ share), Frank Iafrate (who designed the current BSBC logo as well as the Sea Bee logo), Sandy Fern, Walter Snizek, Ralph Lewis, a Mr. Johnston, a Dr. Ferrara, John Kane, John Brock, and Frank Christoff. In 1975, six of these men ---- Underhill, Lloyd Broomhead, Brock, Iafrate, Fern, and Kane --- bought out the others and took on two more partners: Sam Butera and Peter Wiechers.
This new group of men ran it --- with Cliff Hall as their sometime
manager --- until 1985.