America's Cup Restaurant -- A Building with a Past

The recent news about the decision to renew the lease of the America's Cup Restaurant at Harbor Park reminded me of a very fine research project by a former student, Scott Quarrier, about the history of the building now occupied by the restaurant. Scott completed the project for a course I teach called "Waterways: Boats and Oceans in World History". What follows is mostly culled from Scott's efforts. (Scott graciously granted permission to use the fruits of his labors, and to mention his name. For Scott's sailing adventures in 2006-07, click here. Currently he is in New York City getting a masters in public health, conducting TB research, and preparing for medical school.)

The origins of the America's Cup building can be dated to 1896-97, when fifteen Middletown men formed the Mattabesett Canoe Club. According to an article in the May 4th 1901 Penny Press (the forerunner to the Middletown Press), the object of the club was “to promote the social and intellectual welfare of its members, to encourage a canoe yacht and aquatic sports canoe and yacht building and to promote naval architecture and the cultivation of naval science.” [Needless to say, there are some commas missing in the previous sentence, and possibly a word or two. But that's how it appears to have been reported.] The club grew rapidly: by 1906 membership had exploded to 216; the club soon took on a new name, The Middletown Yacht Club, and by 1913 was the biggest yacht club in Connecticut with 300 members; in 1914 the members were contemplating a new building, which became a reality in the following year. That new building, which cost $14,000 to build in 1914, is now occupied by America's Cup Restaurant. The picture below, which appears to have been taken from the river, is from a 1915 edition of The Rudder magazine.



The big change in the club, however (and this is one of the things that grabbed Scott's attention), was the increased popular interest in engine-powered boating, which occurred right around the turn of the century. According to a 1903 document, the vessels registered to the club included over forty canoes, but also nearly twenty steam- or gas-powered yachts. There were only a handful of sailboats. By 1913 power boats easily outnumbered canoes. By then, one of the big attractions was the annual power boat race along the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, in which the Middletown contingent played the principal organizing role.

Eventually the Middletown Yacht Club migrated south, first to Maromas in 1945, and then to Chester (its current location) in 1957 -- and in the process it again underwent a name change, this time to the Middlesex Yacht Club. According to the Middlesex Yacht Club's website -- where there is a lovely 1924 photograph of the Harbor Park clubhouse, partly covered in ivy -- the shift from Maromas to Chester was precipitated by the decision on the part of the US Government to take over the Maromas location for an atomic laboratory, which eventually became United Technology's Pratt & Whitney plant. (In a way, then, the story intersects with another controversy that is bubbling up in Middletown, that is, the role of the US Government in Middletown, manifest at this particular moment in the new army training center being planned for the Westfield section of town.)

In addition to encouraging leisure boating, the Middletown Yacht Club served as a major social hub for Middletown in the early twentieth century. The Penny Press is full of reports about the annual banquets and other activities hosted by the club. Not surprisingly these were male dominated affairs. (A 1903 regulation, later dropped, advised that “As a precaution of safety, no member shall take out more than one lady at a time in his canoe.”) Nevertheless, one can imagine that the departure of the club left a gaping hole in the social life of the town. By then, of course, the citizens of Middletown had lost their connection to the river, due mainly to the construction of Route 9 in 1951 (which was the subject of another excellent student project and perhaps an upcoming story for the Eye).