The Casino: A Grand Gathering Spot
- Kaethe Maguire
- Jul 14, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 28
I know when you read the word “casino” you think of gambling. Evidently, in the past, the term was used for a gathering place for social interaction.
Such was our Sandwich Casino. It was at the corner of School Street and what is now Pheasant Lane, right in Sandwich Village. Next to the Casino was the Town School built in 1855.
The Casino was constructed in 1884, ironically the year Bourne became a separate town created from West Sandwich. The monied movers in town wanted a gathering space not associated with town hall for some reason. One of these “movers” was William Boyden, whom you met in my previous article on the burning of the Boyden Block on Main Street.
The building was 130 feet by 50 feet with a portico, two anterooms, a large gallery, toilets, and a raised bandstand. The building was designed to allow for roller skating or dances. Lighting was provided by gas jets.
The grand opening, on August 7, 1884, was a big celebration with an orchestra sent down from Boston as well as an exhibition by renowned roller skater Carrie Gilmore, also of Boston. People danced until 2 AM. The crowd was second only to the gathering in 1848 when the railroad came to Sandwich, and a banquet was held for 1,200 people.
The Sandwich Casino was certainly well used over the years. The town celebrated its 250th anniversary there.
A massive clambake was held under a huge tent behind the Casino which measured 260 by 80 feet containing 14 long tables and seating 2,000. After dinner, the ability to produce fine music was evident when a chorus of 50 and a band performed the Gloria from Mozart’s 12th Mass.
Did you ever wonder when the usual July Fourth boat parade over Shawme Pond began?
Well, surprise surprise, it began with the 250th anniversary celebration. After the clambake, 40 boats and barges, all decorated, and organized by one F. Edwin Elwell, a summer resident who based the idea on the boats of Venice on the Grand Canal. He was a sculptor, so he may have witnessed the boat parade on the Grand Canal himself.
Of course, there was a fireworks display from a raft as well. The last event of the day was a ball at the Casino with a band from Boston. This was the first big event held in Sandwich that used electric lights.
These celebrations at the Casino continued for years. The town inaugurated what was called Old Home Week in 1902, also the first year of the now-annual Wing Family Reunion in East Sandwich. The events of the day culminated with a Grand Ball at the Casino.
By the 300th anniversary of Sandwich in 1939, baseball games behind the Casino were added to the festivities. What was the Casino field is now Pheasant Lane. The 300th was a major celebration for Sandwich.
Please note the picture of the giant clambake behind the Casino held for that occasion as well as the photo of our native son, author Thornton Burgess, a speaker at that anniversary as well.
So, when was the Casino taken down and why?
It seems that the Hurricane of 1938 did heavy damage to the Casino. We know it was not used as a meeting place after 1941. Notes made by Dorothy Schofield at the Sandwich Historical Society/Glass Museum report that it was taken down in 1944/45 near the end of World War II. Certainly, had it been safe to use, the military would have gathered there instead of the tiny USO building on Jarves Street where Beth’s Café and Bakery now stands.
A play called “Hay Fever” was performed on August 5, 1941, but that seems to have been the last gathering held there.
However, even though the building was no longer in use, the playing fields behind the Casino were used for many years thereafter.
Kaethe Maguire is a member of the Friends of the Sandwich Town Archives, a dedicated, all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to supporting and promoting the archives’ collections and the rich, diverse history of the town of Sandwich.
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