Creation of Wildwood Park

An ad for Wildwood

Upon Captain Sturdivant’s death in 1868, his son Sumner inherited the Wildwood property; and on June 3, 1909, Sumner sold the Wildwood tract to Mr. Herman P. Rausch and Concord Realty, a land development corporation from New York.  Mr. Rausch began building houses and built the first house in Wildwood, the Blackwells’ home at 21 Pine Lane.  The early houses were supplied with water from a natural spring which ran through the Park.  Later the spring water was available to all from a spigot located at the corner of Sylvan Lane and Wildwood Boulevard; the mutual driveway of the McBrooms and the Morrows.  Many people can remember going to the spigot as children and getting a drink.

In 1913, Concord Realty Company issued an illustrated brochure for people interested in buying property in Wildwood Beach Park.  You may read it and a later version in Appendices V and VI.  The initial brochure tempted with an opening quotation from Byron and flowery descriptions of what the Park would offer: 

Picture to your mind a pretty, cosy [sic] little cottage or bungalow surrounded by fragrant, sweet smelling pine trees – you are seated in a large comfy chair on the porch – the warm sun sprinkling through in spots just to remind you that it is summer time. . . .

Heyday of the Wildwood Inn

Dinner at the Wildwood Restaurant

The efforts to develop a community of summer cottages went in parallel with creation of a restaurant and inn that were frequented by the public, arriving by trolley and boat.  The Sturdivant family used the area for family outings and called the reserve “Sturdivant’s Field.”  When Mr. Rausch developed the area, he continued the practice of outings and swimming at the beach.  The present Chapman house was built and called The Wildwood Restaurant and Tea House.  However, since that was “such a mouthful,” the name was shortened to Wildwood Inn and a banner was erected at the entrance to the Park.  People would come for miles to eat the famous “shore dinners” offered at the Inn.  Customers would enter the Inn on the left, pay for their dinner, pass through the Japanese Room noted for its Oriental design, and then proceed to the porch for their meals. 

Dinner is served

The porch accommodated eight large oak tables seating ten people at a table with soda fountain chairs.  The Inn was mainly an attraction for tourists to the area.  However, Mrs. Chapman recalls that many people in the Park took their evening meal in the Inn.  This could explain the small kitchens in some of the older homes.The sandy beach was very popular both with local people and people from other states.  Transportation to the area was by the trolley line that ran from Portland to Brunswick.  The trolley followed a route along the present Route 88.  People departed the trolley at the top of the Park and walked down to the beach.  At the end of the day, the tourists took the trolley back to Portland.

Bathing Beauties

Katrina Rich and Barbara Garsoe remember being invited by friends in Wildwood to swim at the beach.  It was, according to Katrina, “a journey that took forever” from Portland, but “oh, such a sweet experience” when she arrived.  Her mother, one of only two women she knew who drove in the late 1920s, borrowed her father’s car to make some of the trips. The beach had a raft, a pier, a diving chute, and at least three beach houses (which Barbara remembers rented for $3 a season).  The Reserve also had a gazebo called “The Rustic House” with unpeeled birch railings where people used to sit in the shade of the house and talk or admire the view.  Sometimes they would get “beaned” by a ball of clay.  Children threw wet globs of clay onto the roof; and when they dried, at random, they would roll off. 

Island steamers stopped at the Wildwood Pier.  On the roof of the summer house was the word W I L D W O O D painted in large letters so that the ferry boat could see the landing in poor weather.  The pier consisted of two sections, an inner section which was stationary and the outer section which was a pontoon-type construction.  The pier was a base for swimming and sunning, for access to boats moored in the cove, and occasionally for golf ball driving contests out over the water.  Swimmers also had the option of using a pool up at the Inn, filled with salt water pumped from the cove.

Enjoying shore dinners at the Wildwood Inn

In the winter the outer section of the pier was brought in to avoid being broken up by the storms.  The remnants of the pilings of the inner section and of the pumping station for the pool are visible on the beach today.  Access to the beach and pier was by way of “the ravine,” a stone walkway to the left of the Chapman’s present home.  Although now filled in with trees and bushes, the trench is still visible today.

Fun on the Beach

At one time there was a “clam reservation.” Mr. Rausch planted seed clams in the flats on the beach.  Both the Inn and the residents of the Park were able to dig clams on their own private clam reservation.  However, there were always problems with “outsiders” coming in to dig clams.  Several times Mr. Rausch had to call the authorities to control use of the clam reservation.