Wilmington Police Department: 150 Years Of Service: Policing Wilmington's Nightlife

Press release from Wilmington Police Department:

November 14, 2022

Wilmington, for a small town, had an abundance of bars, roadside joints and nightclubs in the 1930s and 40s. Those bars had their share of troubles…drunks, fights, underage patrons, prostitution and other immoral activities, after hours liquor service, gambling and assaults. The lone overnight officer was, at most times, all that was available to police this rowdy behavior. The officer often needed to summon every fiber of his command presence and exercise his wits in order to preserve and keep the peace each night.

Relieving the early evening officer at midnight, the overnight man began his shift visiting each of the town’s drinking establishments. First on the list was Huntley’s on Main Street opposite the train depot. A Worcester Dining Car in the 1920s, it was later expanded losing much of its diner appearance while gaining a liquor license and a clientele to go along with that amenity. When the police station assumed residence in the old Wilmington News office on Main Street in the 1930s, there was not far for the overnight officer to go as Huntley’s was located next door in an attached building. When the police station moved to Church Street in the 1940s, the officer would often walk through the alley across the street and enter Huntley’s through the rear door. After checking this close by establishment, the officer would then take the cruiser to the outlying places south of the center and then head over to the Silver Lake District. Ann’s Duck Farm was a classic roadside tavern located mere feet from the edge of south Main Street only a half mile from the Woburn Line. The Ritz, a little closer to the center of town, was in a roadside turnout just north of Lowell Street. Madeline’s (later Phyll’s Café) was located adjacent to the Wilmington Theatre. In the Silver Lake District, there was the Black Kat, the Rainbow, Thompson’s Grove Pavilion and Jack’s. The Black Kat was located at the site of present-day Cumberland Farms and the Rainbow diagonally across the street just north of Benji Way. Thompson’s Grove occupied the site of present-day St. Dorothy Church and Jack’s was on Grove Avenue opposite the present-day Town Beach. Along a darkened length of Andover Street, nearly entirely surrounded by a swampy landscape was an inn called the Pinemere. The Pinemere was the most short-lived of the nightspots for reasons that will be explained further along in this story.

By far, the Black Kat was the largest and most well known of all of the establishments. The business that began as a filling station was owned and operated by Tony DelTorto. It was said that it was known far and wide and featured the largest dancing venue in New England. It also had a popular house band in the form of the Sabby Lewis Orchestra. Sebastian “Sabby” Lewis was popular in the Boston nightclub circuit and jazz scene having played with Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and Billie Holiday he regularly played two shows nightly. Other spots featured entertainment as well. The Rainbow often had a piano player or house band and the Pavilion at Thompson’s Grove featured boxing and wrestling matches. In all, there was never a shortage of liquor or lively entertainment along Main Street.

Police log ledgers of the era recount the overnight trips to each nightspot by the midnight officer. Entries would note the time visited and whether of not the place was open or closed. Often return trips for a second of third check would reveal the places were actually open as half consumed beer bottles and highball glasses littered the bars and tables while patrons hid or scurried away under the cover of darkness. When trouble did arise in often came courtesy of out of towners. On one occasion two twenty-year-old girls from Charlestown found themselves beaten (at the hands of two Medford boys) and thrown out of a car as it sped away from a visit to one of more of the bars. In the late 1930s Officer George Fuller found himself at the Rainbow facing off against a dozen of toughs from Woburn. His log entry for the incident read as follows: “Disturbance at the Rainbow. About 15 fellows from Woburn looking for trouble. Taken care of.” On New Year’s Eve 1940, Chief Harry Ainsworth and Sergeant Talbot Sidelinker went to the Black Kat to collect the club’s unpaid liquor license fee of $500.00 The proprietor only produced $400.00 and Chief Ainsworth shut the place down thirty minutes after patrons had rung in the new year. As the log entry indicates, “dissatisfied customers” threatened trouble. On this occasion however, the Chief had called in back up and Officers Eddie Lyons, Burt Frotton and Frank Gammons made sure the disorderly patrons were kept at bay.

A few months after the New Year’s Eve trouble at the Black Kat the Board of Selectmen summoned the owners of all of the town’s drinking spots before them at their meeting of April 23, 1940. By day many of these establishments were businesses of good reputation that catered to the families of town. Mostly owned and operated by reputable residents and local entrepreneurs, it was the liquor and outside influences that led to most of the trouble. The Selectmen, however, were tired of the overnight nonsense whomever or whatever the cause may be, and they laid down the law plainly. Intoxicated persons would no longer to be released upon sobering up, instead they would be held and taken to court the next morning. Bars found to be serving underage or inebriated patrons would lose their license. Bars found to be open or serving liquor after the mandatory 1:00 AM closing time would similarly find their licenses in jeopardy. Every law was to be followed or else, so commanded the selectmen. A day later, on April 24, 1940, a scandalous rendezvous of dozens at a North Wilmington resort (as the venue was described in the local press) seemed to have underscored the Selectmen’s concerns about the bawdy and unruly nature of some of Wilmington’s nightlife.

This press release was produced by Wilmington Police Department. The views expressed here are the author’s own.