Balch's Beach
Some 300 people visited Balch's Beach on the north end of Middle Pond at Lake Congamond between June 17 and 18, 1929. The amusement center held its grand opening on July 1. (Balch's Beach stretched across Point Grove Road to North Pond.)
Balch's Beach featured a concession stand, live entertainment, a dancing pavilion, row boats and canoes, fishing, and a speed boat that provided lake tours. It also had a picnic grove, a bathhouse, and a merry-go-round. Cottages, campsites, another bathhouse, and a ballroom were later added. (A powerful searchlight was installed atop the bathhouse in 1931. The light mimicked daylight and illuminated the water for night swimming.)
The Balch's Beach Ballroom became the Ritz Ballroom in 1930.
The original owner, Benjamin Babb, held a $5,000 first mortgage. Clayton Balch was the director, presumably until William P. Marcoullier of Westfield operated it under a trust agreement circa 1930-1. (However, Thompsonville Bottling Works filed a $500 attachment in an action of contract against Clayton/Balch's Beach in 1933.)
The Ritz Ballroom became one of the area's best ballrooms after being enlarged, redecorated, and renamed Crystal Ballroom in 1933. The renovations included the addition of a large veranda and an open-air beer garden. Guests could dance under the crystal ball until 4:00 a.m. to some of the most well-known orchestras of the time. The ballroom hosted its "Battle of Music," a popular event featuring dueling orchestras. They also held shag contests. (Dancing was free each night between 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.)
Balch's Beach became a popular tourist destination. Several companies and organizations held events there.
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| Balch's Ballroom circa 1929 |
International Beauties, a group of the most beautiful women in the world, went to Balch's Beach in August 1929.
The Westinghouse Electric Manufacturing Company's union and United Radio and Electrical Workers of America held their third outing on August 15, 1936, at Balch's Beach for 1,500 members and their families. The event included various competitions, including a fat man's race and a pie-eating contest.
Approximately 400 members and guests of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union Local 128 held their first annual outing at Balch's Beach on August 6, 1938. (Frank Adamski attended the event. He dove off the water wheel into shallow water and broke his neck. He died two days later. See Congamonster's Victims.)
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| Balch's Beach |
The pleasure destination had its share of problems, something Joseph Owsiany of Southwick experienced firsthand. On June 16, 1934, Osiany drove his automobile to Balch's Beach for an evening of dancing in the Crystal Ballroom. When he went to leave, his vehicle's motor failed to function as intended. It did not take long to trace the problem: someone had poured sand into the oil intake, which ruined the engine during ignition.
Owsiany contacted the police. He told them that Oliver Mayhew might know something about it, as the two had fallen out. (Mayhew lived on Point Grove Road.)
Police searched for Mayhew only to find out he had left town. A tip led authorities to Canaan, Connecticut, where they arrested Mayhew and charged him with malicious destruction of property.
Police also looked for Iverson Warner, who lived on Congamond Road in Southwick. He was no stranger to law enforcement. On Monday, police arrested him in Southwick and charged him with the same offense. (Warner, who had several run-ins with the law, has shown up on the Southwick Time Machine before.)
Mayhew appeared before a judge on Tuesday morning and admitted to pouring sand into the oil intake of Owsiany's car; Warner pleaded not guilty, and the judge issued a continuance. On Thursday, the judge handed Mayhew a three-month suspended sentence and ordered him to pay restitution of $60 for damaging Owsiany's car, stipulating that the payment be made on or before October 13 or go to jail. (The judge dismissed Warner for lack of prosecution.)
William Marcoullier, who had been running Balch's Beach, purchased it for $9,000 at a foreclosure auction on March 11, 1935. There were only two other bidders: Babb, his attorney bidding on his behalf, and an unidentified man. The sale satisfied Babb's mortgage and paid the trustees $4,000 on their second mortgage, giving Marcoullier ownership of the property free of any claims against it. (The Battistonis, who had invested in Balch's Beach and held the second mortgage on it, filed the equity suit against Clayton Balch.)
In July, Marcoullier brought roller skating to Balch's Beach.
Marcoullier eventually sold the property to Louisa Gavioli, which prompted the two men occupying Balch's Beach to sue him and Gaviloi, claiming Marcoullier did not honor the first right-to-purchase clause outlined in their lease agreement. (Gavioli and her husband owned Domenick's Spaghetti House. They opened the original Anchor at Balch's Beach. She died on December 24, 1960.)
Massachusetts State Police arrested a Hartford man and charged him with drunkenness and causing a disturbance at Balch's Beach in July 1936.
Two men escaped with a small amount of change after holding up the occupants of a parked car at Balch's Beach around midnight on July 3, 1937. The pair had stolen their getaway car in Westfield, Massachusetts, around 10:00 p.m. the night before. Police found the vehicle abandoned in the Little River section of Westfield.
"Gigi" Oriloli suffered a possible heart attack while bathing in Congamond Lake around 4:30 p.m. on August 15, 1945. Police dragged Congamond Lake but called off their search at dusk.
The following morning, around 8:15, Joseph Zanolli found Orioli's body floating in about 14 feet deep water near Balch's Beach.
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| Balch's Beach (Notice the merry-go-round on the hill in the background) |
Edited Out/Author's Additional Research Notes
Egidio G. Orioli: Dec. 1, 1900 - Dec. 15, 1945.
Giuseppe Joseph Zanolli: March 17, 1893 - June 14, 1975.
The Balch's Beach Ballroom's grand opening was on July 31, 1929. The Ritz Ballroom's grand opening was on May 24, 1930.
Marcoullier once worked for a piano leg-making factory. He purchased the plant in 1915 and operated it until he sold it in 1928. He also owned a package store on Elm Street in Westfield from 1933 until he died in 1957.
It needs to be clarified why Owsiany and Mayhew were not getting along. Interestingly, Mayhew later married Helen E. Owsiany, Joseph's younger sister. Oliver and Helen married in April 1937, and she gave birth to a daughter on July 12. Helen died in 2005 at age 91. Oliver Kenneth Mayhew, a retired New York Central Railroad brakeman, died on February 10, 1983. Their daughter died on October 28, 2019, at age 82.
Police arrested Joseph Owsiany after pulling him over for speeding (50 miles or more an hour) on the new state highway in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on Saturday, March 14, 1931.
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