Whitman Bailey Selection for October Looking East Across Rippowam Park

There has been a lot in the news lately about the downtown Mill River restoration project, so I was pleased to find an October sketch from the Whitman Bailey Collection of Rippowam Park:

Looking East Across Rippowam Park

Download Newspaper Clipping of October 15, 1932

In the background, across the barely discernible Mill River with its concrete banks, can be seen the Roger Smith Hotel on Washington Blvd., later victim of urban redevelopment.  We wrote about the hotel earlier in the year.

Today's Advocate has an article (this link will probably no longer active after two weeks from today) about wildlife returning to the river, including minks, herons, and egrets, a very gratifying development of a healthy ecosystem downtown. Don Russell, who seems to have been against the project in the past, wrote in a recent column (at the time when the last section of the Mill River dam came down) that he now has changed his mind.

Skating Scene at Rippowam Park (scroll down for sketch).  Further up, the Old Swimming Hole, "Sandy Bottom," At Woodside Park is unlikely to be restored, Scalzi Park is already there and well established.
Ice Harvesting on the Mill River

We add the usual warning: "At times, the accompanying vignettes are mostly folklore passed on to Mr. Bailey by residents of the areas where he was sketching.  In those instances he had no way of determining the truth of the story.  Nor have we.  It is presented as a sidelight to the sketch.  Therefore, researchers are cautioned to regard these tales as local color, interesting, thought provoking, but sometimes not entirely factual."

However, since we are in the election season, this paragraph made me chuckle:

(Reference file Bailey 287.jpg)