By Vincenzo Frosolone, Special to Today Magazine
Unionville's Suburban Park, also known as Rainbow Park, was first funded by a committee that bought an estate owned by D.A. Keyes. The 35-acre amusement park officially opened to the public on May 30th, 1985-- on Memorial Day.
Outside of deer, herons, mallard ducks, rabbits, and raccoons, a class of 100 young children from a Hartford parochial school were the first visitors to set foot in the park, for a picnic.
The park was originally founded by the Hartford Suburban Railway and operated by the Farmington Street Railway Company. Suburban Park was built to make the suburban Unionville area more attractive for city-folk tourists-- hence the moniker-- and deflect local residents from flocking to contemporary competition in nearby Hartford, Avon, Bloomfield, and Farmington, like Electric Park and Professional Park (both located in Farmington.)
Ironically, Suburban Park had one shocking trick up its sleeve. Owing to the park's vicinity to the trolley's power station, its owners were among the first to use electricity-- namely for the electric fountain, its colored lights and ornate Japanese lanterns hung from the trees. Constructed from iron and rock, the fountain was powered by a water wheel, which was in turn powered by the Farmington River.
Speaking of the trolley, first opened to the public on April 1st, 1895, park visitors would spend 15 cents to travel from Hartford along the modern Farmington Avenue to the end of the track located at the park. Today, this ride would cost approximately $4.89.
The Unionville trolley offices were closed in February 1897 and moved to Hartford.
Meanwhile, visitors and business employees could stroll along intricately woven walkways to watch birds such as broad-winged hawks and pileated woodpeckers, and hold meetings while engaging with various attractions.
Recreational sports included baseball, polo, and tennis, and visitors could swim and fish in the lake. Lake ice was harvested for refrigeration in the Cave of the Dancing Bear, the park's ursine underground storage cellar.
The punting pond docked rental boats during the warmer months, doubling as an ice rink for skating and hockey in the winter. Canals channeled river water past a 12-foot dam through the water wheel, which powered the electric fountain and several local businesses.
Children and adults could ride the carousel until July 1898, when it was moved to a competing park in Hartford. Operated by Charles A. Hackney, the ride cost one penny, which inflates to roughly 33 cents per ride today.
Visitors could also dance at the pavilion. Under a tiled roof, parties, lectures, and receptions took place in this windowless venue open to the fresh outdoor air. Live entertainment included performances by groups such as the Colts Orchestra, the Union Orchestra, the Sedgwick & Casey Orchestra, the Pope Band, and Simonds Military Band. In 1907, the pavilion was converted to a summer cottage that burned down in the 1960s.
After a long fulfilling day, hungry guests could purchase ice cream, lemonade, sandwiches, cupcakes, and doughnuts from the parlor and relax on the swings and hammocks strung between the trees.
Suburban Park was closed in 1905 as more people drove cars. As a result, the park owners were inclined to increase the fare, decommission many trams, and cut back on the schedule. They stopped serving riders altogether in 1933.
In 1961, Roger Toffolon bought the land. Intending to mine the park for sand and gravel and build a housing subdivision upon it, Toffolon ultimately sold it back to Unionville in 1999 for $1.56 million after a grassroots campaign fought against his efforts, arguing that the area should be preserved as natural open space.
John McManama, then a member of the Farmington Land Trust, said the funding would be better invested in combatting pollution and preserving the woodlands than in residential development, alluding to the park's 12-million-year-old sites of eight glacial kettles.
The park remains an open space meant solely for passive recreation. Part of the Unionville Lions Club Memorial Park, neighbored by an auto body shop and a large shopping plaza, Suburban Park retains its historical beauty and natural charm.
Comments