Webster TIMES

Thursday, May 26, 1938

After 40 Years, Beacon Park Co. Sells Launches
'City', 'Empire' Sold This Week

Veterans of forty-one summers at Webster Lake, the majestic "City of Webster", this week was sold, along with the launch "Empire" and these two boats, so long affiliated with the Beacon Park Boat Company, pass to the ownership of Eudore Plasse.

With the sale of the boats went two lots of land at Vue du Lac, on the Gore side of the lake, where the two boats have been drydocked for the winter. The new owner plans to place them in commission at once, and run regular trips about the lake, touching at the various shore resorts, and also use the boats for special parties.

The two boats came to the lake while the Spanish-American War was in progress, forty years ago and were hauled overland from Boston. The "City of Webster" provided a real job in transportation, as the craft was hauled by horses from Boston to Webster, and the job took about two weeks.

It was by far the largest boat ever launched at the lake, and remained the biggest of all water craft during the two score years. The "Empire", also hauled overland, is second in size to the "City of Webster", and has long been used for the trips to various points about the lake.

The fleet of boats formerly owned by the Beacon Park Company, of which Atty. Edgar S. Hill was president, included in addition to the "City of Webster", and "Empire", the "Point Breeze", "Leslie", and "Vixen".

In the days before the automobile, the boats were the important means of transportation to the various lake resorts and regular schedules were maintained from Beacon Park to Point Breeze, with stops at other locations along the shores of the big pond.

Thousands of people who comprised special parties, outings and picnics were carried about the lake in the "City of Webster", and sometimes the entire fleet of boats were used for larger gatherings.

A trip around the lake in the "City of Webster" was an important matter; no Websterite ever neglected this opportunity.

Among the boats of the fleet, the "Point Breeze" was the first to go. In the last years of its career, this boat was stripped for use as a freight carrier. In a blazing, spectacular climax to its many years on the lake, the "Point Breeze" was anchored off Beacon Park a few years ago, barrels of oil spilled on the deck, and the old boat set afire to provide a spectacle for several thousands who lined the shores about Beacon Park.

With colors flying, the blazing vessel went down to Davy Jones' Locker.

The "Vixen" and the "Leslie" were sold by Ralph W. Hill, who has been for many years in charge of the Park and the boats, leaving only the "Empire" and the "City of Webster".

The appearance of these boats on the lake were co-incident with the building of the Worcester & Webster Street Railway, and with the electric cars running to Beacon Park, a real thrill of the "gay nineties" was a trip by trolley to the park and then the trip by boat to Point Breeze and other lake locations, returning to the park and home again by trolley.

The automobile gradually ended the careers of these boats as regular means of transportation. The regular schedules about the lake were discontinued, and only special trips with parties were conducted, with a regular schedule maintained on the weekends. But it was easy to reach all the locations by auto, and the hey day of the boats came to an end.

Now the last of the fleet, including the monarch of the group, the "City of Webster" passes out of the ownership of the Beacon Park Company after two score years. They will continue to operate, and provide pleasure for those who know that a boat ride around the lake provides a real thrill.

It was recalled this week that the huge "City of Webster" was launched with the aid of many railroad ties which were secured from the electric railway, then in the course of construction. Transporting the boat from Boston, with six and eight horses used for pulling, and the launching were jobs of real magnitude, attracting hundreds.

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