Midget Auto Race-Track First On Long List, Of Outdoor Sports Facilities Planned For Public
When Norwood joined the Metropolitan Sewer system, the former Norwood Filter Beds at the side of the Superhighway reverted to a tract of 72 acres of idle land lying emptily beside one of the greatest highways in New England.
Like much of the neighboring acreage that is now tangled brush and field, the filter beds became seemingly useless. But like all of the neighboring property, it immediately became filled with potentialities. During the past few years, with the advent of the Norwood Airport, the modernistic Bendix Plant that is now Tobe Deutschmann, with the building of numerous restaurants, gas stations and other business establishments at the side of the superhighway, it has been both possible and probable that the heart of Norwood and of other towns along Route 1 will move gradually to the side of the road that most easily connects them with their neighboring towns and with the nearest cities of Boston and Providence. Route 1 is definitely the linking lifeline south of Boston.
At the site of the filter beds there is now a constant activity. The fifty foot racing strip has long since been staked out for the first midgot auto races scheduled to be–gin at the Norwood’ Arena Monday evening, April 19. The 133×28 oot clubhouse has been sandblasted and will soon house attractive lounging rooms, a restaurant and a large dance floor. The roadway leading in from the highway has already had its quota of daily traffic as construction workers ready the place for the opening night.
Midget auto racing has grown in popularity at an amazing rate since it was first introduced to New England in 193G. It will undoubtedly retain this popularity, just as it will undoubtedly retain the title of “the fastest sport on earth*’ for some time to come. But unlike many business ventures, begun because of the demand of the immediate moment, the Norwood Arena Sports and Recreation Park has also prepared for the future by looking into the needs of the past.
For the lack of facilities for outdoor sports that now exists in Norwood and throughout Norfolk County, refer to a fictional Mr. John J. Doc of Norwood, who will be among the spectators at the first midget auto races. During the evening, he has examined the track, the clubhouse, the parking facilities, the site of the two reinforced concrete hockey rinks, the swimming pool, general skating area, baseball diamond and picnic park. The grass area enclosed by the track itself is large enough for football games, softball, and soccer. There is ample space for the construction of a boxing arena, and the grandstand and bleachers will accomodate 15,000 persons.
Plan For All Sports
Mr, Doc enjoys all kinds of competitive sport — amateur or professional. lie complains that in Norwood there are no facilities whatsoever for hockey, and the swimming pool at the Civic has long been in disuse, leaving only the beach at Willett Pond and the unsatisfactory Hawes Brook Pool. Professional football and baseball have never come to Norwood, and there have never been any facilities for either. Nor has boxing been introduced here; the new arena povides for these. The baseball diamond is an improvement over the Civic, where only a few benches provide seating for the spectators. In brief, the arena’s sports and recreation park will be the one spot in town for all competitive sports, both amateur and professional, where a crowd of 15,000 could enjoy them.
If Mr Doc were to read the charter of the Norwood Arena Inc,, he would find that the company has given it the following powers: “The conduct of theatrical exhibitions, public shows, public amusements, and exhibitions of every description permitted by the laws of the Commonwealth, including, without limiting the foregoing, holding or giving boxing, sparring, wrestling, hockey’ and skating matches or exhibitions, operating swimming pools, theatres, music halls and all other types of amusement and entertainment, either indoors or out of doors.’ to purchase, own, operate, build, manage and sell arenas, buildings and other structures for said purposes, to let the same and to conduct in respect to the same a general amusement and entertainment business in all its branches and phases, and to own, operate and maintain gymnasia, swimming pools, skating rinks, athletic -fields and tracks, refreshment rooms and all other things incidental’thereto and to own and operate all apparatus and appliances useful in connection therewith. To carry on the business of sports promoters, theatrical proprietors, and public exhibitors of every kind and nature, and to produce and present to the public all kind of shows, exhibitions, sporting events and amusements permitted by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and in general to carry on any other business in connection with, or incidental to, any of the foregoing, whether manufacturing or otherwise.”
The reader sees that the possibilities of the arena are all-inclusive. It will be an arena in the true sense of the word, capable of the variety of amusement that is now confined to the Boston Garden and Boston Arena. For example, professional baseball could well be staged in Norwood. At Braves Field in Boston, with crowds pouring in from all sections of the city, outlying towns, and from out of state, parking conditions are comparatively non-existent and have created a tremendous traffic problem. Situated as far from the city proper as Norwood, yet on a state highway and at a good distance from the residential area, facilities are ideal for big-time sports.
Excellent Parade Ground
For a town as interested as Norwood in parades and musical exhibitions, there is no parade ground where the numerous school bands and other units may be reviewed. The area within the race track, measuring 500×320 feet, and overlooked by bleachers encircling the entire track, will lie excellent for such demonstrations. In the same way, hockey games now non-existent here, may be played at the two large.rinks that lie side by side in the section of the park given over to water and winter sports. The town has long been trying to enlarge skating facilities for the general public, and the large part of land in the park marked for skating will be flooded yearly by. the same driven wells that will provide water for the rinks and for the pool. The opportunities for the Norwood resident, who seeks a great part of his sports amusement in Boston, are almost unlimited. At the same time while the young people have the facilities given them by their schools and by the town ‘Recreation Department, the addition of the sports arena and park will result in still greater participation in athletic activities. To adults who go to gymnasiums operated by the Y.M.CA. or similar organizations in Boston for lack of local gyms, the arena holds ‘forth .such great possibilities that it may well* become the* general sports area< not only for Norwood but for the «entire county.
At the moment, the Immediate tiling — midget auto racing— has been carefully planned. The future aspects of the arena have not yet been put down on paper, but. as each new section of the park develops successfully, will make way for the next innovation, and as the public responds to each opportunity, others will be added. It is entirely possible that the nearby airport will come into picture with a feeder line service that would bring passengers from various points in New England to Norwood, for an evening of entertainment, and deliver them home again that same night. Even the sky is not the limit of the arena’s potentialities.
For the Norwood resident whom Mr. Doe represents, the arena solves many of the needs which he has hoped that his town might one day provide for him and for his family. For the entire county, particularly such nearby towns as Dedham, Westwood, Walpole, Sharon, and other communities, the arena likewise offers the solution to the problems of limited facilities and unlimited demand. Sports, circuses, outdoor theatricals — every type of amusement may soon be marking Norwood as part of the regular circuit. Norwood organizations may also have the opportunity of taking over the arena to stage their shows and benefit performances.