page_title: Lake Quinsigamond
section_title: Historical
hierarchical_section_title: Lake Quinsigamond / Attractions on the lake / Historical
caption_attribution_description: English: Early divided back postcard of a Boston &amp; Worcester Street Railway trolley on the Lake Quinsigamond causeway, postmarked 1908
context_page_description: Lake Quinsigamond is a body of water situated between the city of Worcester and the town of Shrewsbury in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is 4 miles long, between 50 and 85 feet deep, and has a surface area of approximately 772 acres. Lake Quinsigamond hosts 8 islands with the majority owned by private citizens. Two islands are connected to land via bridge. The largest island, Drake Island, is still state owned. Water from the lake empties into the Quinsigamond River in the Blackstone Valley.
context_section_description: Most of the lakeside development occurred around the southern shores, due to the construction of the causeway in 1863. The causeway split the lake in half for those traveling by water, namely, steamboat cruises and competitive rowers.  Lincoln Park, a family amusement park, opened on the Worcester (western) side of the lake in 1894; steamboat cruises began twenty years earlier, launched from the site of the Park.  Horace H. Bigelow, a local businessman, opened a competing amusement park called White City on the Shrewsbury side in 1905.  Both parks became famous for unique rides: Lincoln for the 'Dummy Railroad,' a passenger train running between Union Station in Worcester and the Park; White City, for its artificial lake, Shoot-the-Chutes ride, and other water attractions.
  By the 1940s, both parks began to suffer declines in attendance due to development elsewhere along the lake's shores.  White City, once a park that featured '50,000 Electric Lights,' shut down on Labor Day, 1960.  Lincoln Park closed in 1961, and the White City property was sold in November of that same year.  Both parks lost buildings due to suspicious fires during their final years.
caption: Lake Quinsigamond causeway in 1908
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