Dancing the night away 100 years ago in the Riverside Ballroom in South Natick, and canoe rides on the Charles River.
Riverside Ballroom: People Came To Dance!
Dancing in the twilight along the Charles River in South Natick was once a popular pastime. Young men and women gathered three nights a week at the Riverside Ballroom and danced for hours to the music of two orchestras. Sometimes prizes were awarded to the dancers, such as a diamond ring or (get ready for it) “a free pig.” Who could resist?
Young people from surrounding towns traveled to South Natick to have fun in the dance hall and snuggle together on benches underneath the covered porch that faced the river. The Riverside was built to be a popular and accessible destination. It was only a short walk from the bridge (no longer there) that carried a trolley line across the river, connecting Natick and Dover with other communities.
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Natick Town Directory Advertisement, 1911
On a Heinlein Canoe in the icy Charles River, c. 1915.
Charles Heinlein constructed the Riverside Ballroom on the west bank of the Charles River in 1896, next to his mother’s house at the end of Water Street, several blocks away from Eliot Street (Route 16). A short time later, he built the popular “Nixie Heinlein’s Canoe Livery” at the water line on the other side of Water Street, offering canoes for rental by energetic folks who wanted an exciting outing on the river. Charles, one of nine children, had his father's entrepreneurial spirit. He had emigrated from Germany to South Natick in the 1860s to work as a shoemaker (the shoe industry was booming in Natick then). Charles could see that the trolley service carried many people through the village of South Natick, and he determined to offer them popular entertainment.
Heinlein erected a single large hall with a gabled roof, exposed ceiling rafters, and a large stage at one end. Two orchestras took turns providing several hours of live music on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Old ballroom posters in the NHS collections confirm that the Sullivan Brothers Orchestra of Milford and Brockton’s Fogg Orchestra were familiar to ballroom regulars. Through the years, the orchestras played all the popular music that swept the country: there was music for the foxtrot, a highlight of the 1914 season, and the “Charleston,” introduced in 1923, and songs like “The Black Bottom” and “Ain’t She Sweet?” and “The Varsity Drag.” In the Flapper era, these were finger-snapping new releases.
Speakers who didn’t like the carefree behavior of dance hall patrons criticized the national “Dance Hall Phenomena” at a 1924 convention in Boston. They jabbed at parents “sitting upon the shelf and letting youth go without moral guidance.” Critics of venues like the Riverside Ballroom questioned the propriety of offering a refuge from the dance floor in a quiet spot with benches along the river. Just four years earlier, the arrival of Prohibition changed expectations around social gatherings, too. However, folks in the know could readily find speakeasies on River Street in South Natick while bands played in the Riverside Ballroom.
In 1911, Charles Heinlein enthusiastically promoted his canoe rental business, promising “a delightful paddle” on the “lower Charles River, known for its Magnificent Scenery with its many Shaddy Nooks and its clear Sparkling Water.” He also mentioned that the river was “noted for its Fishing, Bathing and its many other sports.”
Spending $2.00 for an all-day canoe rental probably didn’t deter well-to-do folks who looked forward to several hours on the river, but more frugal patrons may have decided to splash around for only an hour or two before returning to the boat dock. An all-day canoe rental costs the equivalent of almost $75 in 2024 dollars. In his advertisements, Heinlein always mentioned the trolley service, which crossed the river nearby, with “electric cars” running every half hour from Lincoln Square at Marion and E. Central streets near the center of town.
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Charles River flood damage at Riverside Ballroom
In some years, the river was more foe than friend. In 1917, floods demolished the canoe livery and seriously damaged the ballroom. Both were rebuilt in 1918 to be twice their original size, with modern conveniences like telephones. The trolley service was discontinued in 1918, reducing the ballroom and canoe rental patronage. In subsequent years, repeated flooding battered the buildings and required constant repairs. Heinlein agreed to take on Charles Batchelder, a Boston car dealer, as an investor and senior partner.
Then, disaster struck again. In 1924, the ballroom disappeared in a raging fire one day after Christmas. It wasn’t rebuilt. One lifelong South Natick resident recalled that the “greatest regret” of her youth was the destruction of the Riverside Ballroom before she was old enough to go there for her first turn on the dance floor. "My parents had promised me I could attend the dances once I was of age, but it closed."
Charles Heinlein died in 1930, and his nephew, Frank, took over management of the canoe livery business. It was nearly destroyed in the Hurricane of 1938, and the part of the remaining structure was flattened in a 1945 snowstorm.
Many folks in Natick and surrounding communities, who had spent pleasant and sociable hours on the dance floor and the river, cherished their lively memories for many years.
READ MORE ABOUT THE RED BRIDGE AND STATUE ON THE CHARLES RIVER: CLICK HERE
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Flood damage at Heinlein Boat and Canoe Livery
Selected sources and additional reading:
Natick Historical Society Collections.
Archive.org. “Resident and Business Directory of Natick Massachusetts 1911.” Accessed August 1, 2019.