01907 Fall 2018 V2

Welcome
to the
hotels
Swampscott
When the
town was a
popular resort
BY BILL BROTHERTON
Once upon a time, Swampscott was
one of the Northeast's premier resort
areas. The "old money" crowd would
escape the sweltering big city and relax
in one of the town's many seaside grand
hotels for an entire summer.
The train would depart from Boston,
stopping at Swampscott station where
Mr. Washburn's horse-drawn carriage
service would be waiting to transport
visitors to the hotels and estates. There
were three stations in Swampscott alone,
and the train would later be extended all
the way to downtown Marblehead.
Summer residents would arrive
Memorial Day weekend and stay right
through Labor Day, said unofficial town
historian Lou Gallo.
"If you had four or five rooms to rent,
you could call yourself a hotel," Gallo
said. "There were a lot of hotels, some
grand, some not so grand. Over 500
rooms were available in Swampscott."
The New Ocean House was
indisputably the grandest of them all.
In 1895, it was purchased by Edward
Grabow and Allen Ainslie, who added
a telephone, an elevator, and service
"call bells" in all 175 rooms. Cottages
and a multi-story, fireproof Puritan
Hall boosted the room total to about
300. New Ocean's property covered 22
acres, which ran from Puritan Road to
Humphrey Street. It was also one of
the first resorts in America to go after
convention business.
Concerts, vaudeville entertainment,
and dancing were soon offered. Golf and
tennis tournaments were held. Horse
stables were onsite.
"The New Ocean House was like a
city unto itself," said Gallo, who grew
up behind the hotel in his grandparents'
home. "On the first floor alone, there
was a butcher shop, fish market, bakery,
barber, drug store, tailor, laundry …
anything you needed to get done. A daily
newspaper was even printed there."
There were strict rules for guests,
according to Gallo, who worked at the 9-hole
pitch-and-putt golf course as a youngster.
Good manners, exemplary etiquette, and
certain protocols had to be followed.
"You could not wear a bathing suit
in the hotel lobby. The bathhouse at the
beach was where you changed," Gallo
said. "Dogs were not allowed in the hotel.
Children were not allowed in the main
dining room. They had their own dining
area. Exceptions would be made for
dessert if the kids were well-behaved."
A who's-who of prominent people
stayed at the hotel during its heyday,
including John F. Kennedy, Lucille Ball,
Harpo Marx, Helen Keller, Babe Ruth,
Guy Lombardo, and Lynn-born actor
Walter Brennan.
Rudy Vallée gave one of his early
performances there, before he found
worldwide success as a pop crooner. A
young Rev. Billy Graham led a meeting
there in 1925. In 1941, when Winston
Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met
at sea to discuss the Atlantic Charter,
staffers for both men stayed at the New
Ocean House.
In the 1930s, Col. Clem Kennedy
bought the hotel and property. By then,
business had started to falter. The end
came on May 8, 1969, when the 81-yearold
New Ocean House burned to the
ground. By the time firefighters arrived,
the five-story wooden structure was fully
engulfed. No one was killed or injured,
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