A great little piece of Greenwich history

Greenwich Sentinel recently published an article from Greenwich Library’s Oral History Project about the former Ekman Center/Old Greenwich Civic Center, and it’s a fun read. Here are some snippets:

By Mary A. Jacobson

Seventy-two years ago, in December of 1950, on the grounds of the present construction site of the Cohen Eastern Greenwich Civic Center, the CEO of Electrolux, E.V. Ekman, proudly announced the opening of the Electrolux Recreation Center for the benefit of its employees and their families. In Mr. Ekman’s words, “This is an Electrolux investment…We shall measure the soundness of this investment only in terms of the amount of good that it can be made to generate.”

The Electrolux Company began manufacturing in Old Greenwich in 1933, producing millions of vacuum cleaners by the time it closed in 1985. After World War II, Electrolux acquired a 20-acre tract of land adjoining the plant and set about planning a recreation center and playing fields. In 1948, the task of “converting a swampy waste into a paradise for play for Electrolux folk” began. The completed project afforded workers eight bowling alleys, ball fields, an auditorium/gymnasium, snack bar, and lounges.

John De Forest worked for Electrolux in the 1960s and was interviewed by Penny Haughwout of the Oral History Project in 1986. He described the various activities, parties, entertainment, and dances that were provided for the employees at the then-renamed Ekman Center. De Forest recounted, “At the time it (the Center) served a purpose. But, as the years went on, with all the competition with television and other things, lifestyles changed.” Over time, many employees preferred to go home at the end of the workday and did not stay for recreational activities.

In 1967, the Town of Greenwich purchased the building and grounds for $432,000 and renamed it the Greenwich Civic Center (later the Eastern Greenwich Civic Center). … Charles Henninger was its first director and remained in that position for twenty-five years. In 1992, he was interviewed by Patricia Holch of the Oral History Project. “Four hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars for the building and twenty acres of property…was a very, very good deal for the town.”
According to Henninger, “The early days of the Center were very youth oriented. We had drop-in programs. Dances every other week. The dances were an adventure because, in those days, we cut it off at a thousand…all the regional and local bands that were popular with the kids. Things like the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Rascals, The Mothers of Invention, Wilson Pickett…All these groups drew lots of people.”

…..

Popular and unforgettable events in the late sixties and early seventies were the circuses “sponsored by the Friends of the Library.” The first year of the circus, five thousand tickets were sold, and a huge tent covered the outside area. “That was the day of the record rainfall of nine inches…We tied the elephants on the small trees. The elephants uprooted the trees… All the trucks got caught up to their axles in mud. So, we had the elephants pull the trucks out. So, it really looked like a disaster.”

I was a kid in the 60s, but peripherally involved in running the bi-weekly dance “The Sound”, and was there for a number of those bands and musicians, including a great local band, “The Wild Weeds”, who were regular performers, and Wilson Pickett, and (ugh) Strawberry Alarm Clock. I’m sure I’d have remembered the Mothers of Invention, but don’t, so I must have missed it. But most memorable was the appearance by The Rascals (they were going as “The Young Rascals” then, and their publicity photo showed four guys in knickers, puffy white shirts, and string ties, but between the photo session and their appearance at Eckman (fee was $600, as I recall, because they’d been booked while they were still a struggling band on Long Island) “Good Loving” had been released and gone to number one on the charts, so they showed up in jeans, scruffy shirts, and long hair, and absolutely rocked.

Always a pretty spartan facility, Ekman seemed to have been treated as an unloved stepchild by the town when it came to maintenance, and it was downright shabby by the 80s, and a leaky mess by the 90s. So its replacement now is long overdue. Still, it provided a lot of fond memories for my generation of kids, and there’s a twinge of nostalgic sorrow accompanying its demise.