The Many Faces of Rock Springs Park

I came across many pictures, such as this one, while researching Rock Springs Park. While they are beautiful photos of the many faces of Rock Springs, I chose not to use them in my book, as I was working with a limited number of images and the main goal was to tell the history of the park in a guided tour-type fashion. I wanted the reader to be able to see elements of the park such as the buildings, rides, and attractions in a majority of the pictures. This photograph, taken by Clarence O. Durbin around 1969, is of Betsy Urie. Although, Betsy's picture and others were not used in the book, I was able to showcase them in a musical Power Point slide show, which I share at book talks. Many people have said it made them cry, even some who didn't know the people or even the park, itself. The slide show is shown to Rusty Springfield;s hit, "I Only Want to Be With You."

Remember it?

Rock Springs Park is now on Wikipedia

Even before I had any thought of doing a picture-history book on Rock Springs Park, I would occasionally Google its name to see if there was any interesting news or pictures of the park on-line. It occurred to me a couple of years ago that Rock Springs should have a Wikipedia site, especially when I discovered that Chester, West Virginia had one. I thought about creating a page for the park and linking it to Chester’s, but I wasn’t sure how to do this and therefore never fully committed to the idea. I still enjoy Googling the park and discovered last month that someone had created a Wikipedia page. As I read through the article I began to realize that it was organized a lot like my book, even covering the same history I highlighted, with very few exceptions. Then I scrolled to the bottom and saw this.

I like being a referenced source. It somehow helps to further legitimize the work. So, thanks “Comic Book Runner.”

Mystery Woman at Rock Springs Park Identified

Someone once said, after listening to me talk about the research process involved in writing Images of America: Rock Springs Park, that it sounded a lot like “detective work.” James Rockford or Joe Hardy I am not, but it’s true there have been times when digging up information on the park felt a bit like solving a mystery or cracking a case.


One mystery that I’ve been wrestling with for nearly a year now was the identity of the woman pictured above. Her name is Beverly (Bev) Springer. I first saw her in the photograph below sent to me by Tish Hand last summer. Tish identified herself (left) and her son, Robert C. Hand (center), but wasn’t completely sure about Beverly’s name, thinking at that time that it could be “Ginny.” I planned to use the image in the chapter covering the Hand years, and hoped that someone would be able to identify the “mystery woman.”

Last fall, I gave a slide show presentation to residents of Fox's Nursing Home in Chester, West Virginia. I was hoping someone might recognize Beverly and identify her. Among the 20-30 attendees, no one knew her name.



Then, a month later in December 2009, I was told about a book of photo negatives that once belonged to park photographer Clarence O. Durbin. The negatives had not been developed in 40 years, but Clarence had carefully labeled each proof and included a negative for each one in a tiny, hand-folded paper envelope. He then, meticulously labeled each picture with a date and description of who or what was in the shot. Dozens of visitors and former park employees were named, including an old school friend of mine, but not Bev. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever find out who she was. I realized after developing as many of the photographs as I could, that it must have been Clarence who took the picture of Tish, Robert , and Bev 42 years earlier.


My final attempt to have Bev identified occurred at the Chester book signing and author talk. I created a musical slide show displaying many of the faces of Rock Springs Park to the tune of Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You.” I chose to use the picture of Tish, Robbie, and Bev as the final slide in the montage and mentioned, as a way of introduction, for everyone to look closely at all the faces as they flashed by and to let me know if they recognized anyone. A couple of people saw relatives, but no one knew Bev.


Yesterday, Kassy Hand posted the picture of her mother, brother, and the mystery woman on her Rock Springs Park Facebook page. Within an hour, maybe less, Kassy was talking to Beverly’s daughter and with a quick check it was comfirmed that it was Bev in the photograh. The mystery had been solved.


Beverly Springer passed away recently and, according to messages left on her own Facebook page, was much loved by all who knew her. I only wish I had a chance to talk to Bev, as I’m sure she would have been “tickled” by my “mystery woman” quest.

Beverly Springer seated on the stone fountain which bubbled between the Merry-go-round and Virginia Gardens in 1970. (All images courtesy of Rich Brookes)

A Guided Tour of Rock Springs Park

Although I could show you around the eastern end of Chester and point out a few things which still remain from the Rock Springs Park era, like owner C.A. Smith’s house on the terraced hillside above Pyramus Street, or the rustic log house, once the family home of Bob and Virginia Hand and their two sons, or even the spring itself which continues to flow unceremoniously into a drainage ditch above Chester’s iconic World’s Largest Teapot, it would be impossible, none-the-less, to tour the old Victorian park or its beautifully landscaped grounds in any meaningful way, as it was completely erased in 1974 to make way for an onramp and cloverleaf exchange to the Jennings Randolph Bridge.

That is why I chose to organize my book, Images of America: Rock Springs Park, as not only a historical tour, but also a virtual guided one. In the book we meet at the entrance gate (pictured above) and together walk the shaded paths of the lower picnic area, where I point out the Old Mill Ride and its tragic history. Then we stop to watch an afternoon matinee at the Summer Theater, followed by a quick dip the huge swimming pool. Once calmed by the serene setting of the spring lake lagoon and the log bridge along Lover’s Lane, we take one last cool drink from the ancient rock spring and climb the steep steps nearby to visit the noise and excitement of the upper park. There, we make our way along a busy midway, where the screams of thrill-seekers rounding the final turn on the Cyclone and the sweet smell of cotton candy, buttery popcorn, and the burning flash of electric sparks coming from the Dodgem car pavilion, excite the senses and force us to hand over five dollars for a strip of ride tickets at the ticket booth.

Buy a copy of Images of America: Rock Springs Park and take a stroll down memory lane.

Here’s want others have said:

“Great book. I literally absorbed it in two evenings before bedtime. You did a great job on the research and will presented text along with the imagery. And thanks for sharing your personal feelings on the excitement, and thrill and deep nostalgia for Rock Springs Park.” ~Will

“I found the book very interesting, and well done. The natural beauty of the area and the landscaping of the park must have been quite a sight in the early 1900s. I liked how the book was organized, showing distinct eras of the park, and how it changed over the years. I love history and had a lot of fun reading this book. Thanks for writing it Joe!” ~Sam

“I had read from my hometown's online newspaper that the author had been in town to sign books. I wanted to purchase a copy because I grew up around that the time the park was well visited. The stories where very interesting; I really enjoyed the photos. ~John

“We all thank Joe for his time to write this book, this is how things stay alive for our kids, who cannot believe what all Chester had. Thanks Joe, you made a lot of people happy. I rode the rollercoaster, must say never road another. Lol.” ~Mary

“I can't lay the book down either. Joe did a great job documenting the history of the park.” ~Kassy

Facebook Find: Interior Photo of Virginia Gardens

DeMar Miller Orchestra at the world famous Virginia Gardens in Rock Springs Park circa 1928. (Courtesy of Jerry Linger)

My original purpose for starting this blog was to share information about and attract fans of Rock Springs Park. It was my hope that visitors would read about the park and share their own memories. Unfortunately, only a handful of people seem to have found their way here. I have no regrets though, as one person left a very important message. Kassy Hand, grand-daughter of Rock Springs Park owners Bob and Virginia Hand, left the message "write that book" which subsequently led to the publication of Images of America: Rock Springs Park. Kassy now has a Rock Springs Park site of her own on Facebook. Her goal, according to the page description, is "for people to share their stories and pictures." It is clear that Facebook is the way to go for making contacts such as these, as her site currently has nearly 700 friends!

One of Kassy's RSP Facebook friends is one-time Chester resident, Jerry Linger. Jerry generously agreed to share his photograph (above) on Facebook and with this blog. A musician himself, Jerry, who now resides in Cincinnati, Ohio, explained how he came to be in possession of not only a rare vintage photograph, but also one of the antique band instruments shown in his picture. “I remember the last dance there - I helped my dad clean the place up for the final dance before they tore it down. It was raining and the roof was leaking - we were catching water in trash cans while sweeping up the place and taking down some of the plastic flowers in the walls. It was so sad - they kept paying the band extra to play longer until they were just too tired to continue. Eventually everyone had to leave and women cried.” Not only did Jerry go to the Last Dance, his aunt took care of muscian Bill Smith in later years. Smith, a saxophone player with Miller's orchestra (center), gave Jerry the same alto saxophone shown in the picture (left) along with the rare photograph, itself.

Jerry’s photgraph is unique in that there are very few images remaining which show interior views of buildings from Rock Springs Park. Not only does the viewer get to see what Virginia Gardens looked like on the inside, the photograph displays many wonderful details: including the striped suits and bow ties of the 6-piece orchestra, the latticework decorations, the keystones in the Art Deco band shell, and Jerry’s favorite the “ornate lamps.”

Aside from performing at Rock Springs Park, DeMar Miller and his orchestra had many musical programs in the second floor auditorium of Chester’s now defunct City Hall, where he “secured many of the radio stars from the Midnight Jamboree in Wheeling, including Big Slim and his horse, Little Sunflower, Shirley the Cowgirl, and others,” according to Roy C. Cashdollar’s History of Chester: Gateway to the West.

Sophie Tucker Avoids Puddles Makes Splash at Rock Springs Park

According to biographer Armond Fields in his book Sophie Tucker: first lady of show business (2003), singer Sophie Tucker appeared at Rock Springs Park in 1908. Variety reported that Tucker made quite an impression on the townspeople of Chester that summer. In her tour de force stage performance, Tucker crooned in blackface at the insistence of manager Phil Hathaway and others who claimed she was "too fat and ugly" to be accepted by an audience in any other context. Although, fans flocked to the park's Summer Theater to see her, it was an impromtu performance on the streets of Chester which led to a major controversy.

Sophie was spotted in town wearing a new “sheath dress” and happily demonstrated to an admiring crowd how easily she could step from the curb and avoid puddles while wearing it. When local law enforcement threatened to jail her for exposing not only her ankles but a flash of leg during the exhibition, she was briskly escorted to the local news agency by newsmen and interviewed about the event.

During the run of her show at Rock Springs, patrons called out to Tucker to wear the sheath dress on stage. She did her best to ignore the riotous behavior, as Hathaway had warned her prior to the performances to “Confine (her) actions to the scripted stage.”

Tucker, known as the "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas” for her bawdy song lyrics and style, continued to sing and perform in movies and television into the mid-1960’s. Perhaps her size, or more likely the volume at which she sang, led Paul McCartney to jokingly refer to her as the Beatles “favorite American group.” The remark, made while McCartney was introducing the Beatles version of the 'Till There Was You' (from 'The Music Man') in 1963, resulted in the belief that Tucker had covered the popular Broadway tune in her own career, which she had not.


SOPHIE TUCKER-1930
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Rock Springs Fills Lake to Provide New Picnic Area

On June 7, 1952, Billboard Magazine reported that Director Robert L. Hand chose to fill in a portion of the lake in Rock Springs Park. The swimming pool near the lake had been closed since WWII.

Chester, W. Va., May 31 – Filling of the lake in order to provide additional picnic space marked the pre-season activities at Rock Springs Park here, according to Manager R.L. Hand. The park began full-scale operation Monday (May 20) after being open for week-ends since May 4.
Two new rides also were added at the park. They are a Bisch-Rocco Kiddie Airplane and a B.A. Schiff Kiddie Boat Ride. Picnic bookings are up. Fireworks are scheduled for holidays.

(above image coutesy of Richard Bowker)