Launch of the Mattabesett Canoe Club

We are about to get a new dining establishment in Middletown: the Mattabesett Canoe Club, which will be in the city-owned building that formerly housed the Harbor Park restaurant.

The original Mattabesett Canoe Club was organized in 1896 by a group of Middletown people. They held their meetings in a building at the river's edge where College Street ended, in a small clubhouse built for $400 on land rented from the Davis family for $80 per year.

To join, people paid an initial fee of $5, then $8 in annual dues and $5 associate dues. Officials of the club had to live within six miles of the clubhouse, own a boat, be paid up and actively involved.

In February 1905, the group changed its name to the Middletown Yacht Club to reflect the change in the types of boats members owned. They were able to buy their building and the land around it in 1906 from the Davises' for $5,700.

In 1911, at which time the club had 300 members, they began to have long-distance races from Middletown to Long Island.

The current building on the site was erected in 1916 to accommodate the growing membership.

Stay tuned: More about the Middletown Yacht Club on Monday morning ...