Ridgewood Pool and Tennis Club

Ridgewood Pool and Tennis Club The Ridgewood Pool & Tennis Club was located off Cook Road in Prospect, CT. It closed quite a few years ago.

This page is for those who recall what a fun place it really was.

Ryan and Wendy in 1992. This was at the Ridgewood Pool & Tennis Club on Cook Road in Prospect, CT. We and a bunch of fri...
11/06/2014

Ryan and Wendy in 1992. This was at the Ridgewood Pool & Tennis Club on Cook Road in Prospect, CT. We and a bunch of friends and neighbors from Cheshire were members there for quite a few years during the 90s.

The club closed down in the 2000s and was left abandoned. Vandals visited it a lot and finally it was bulldozed.

A look at the property from Google earth and you can still see the round kiddie pool however. Really strange.

I took this picture with one of those disposable Kodak Fun Saver Panoramic 35 cameras that were popular then. The cameras took interesting wide views, but the resolution wasn’t too great, basically cramming this wide exposure onto a standard 35mm negative.

Squirting water and colorful floats at the kiddie pool at Ridgewood back in the mid 1990s.
08/14/2013

Squirting water and colorful floats at the kiddie pool at Ridgewood back in the mid 1990s.

An August 1995 photo showing the crystal clear waters of the main pool at Ridgewood.
08/14/2013

An August 1995 photo showing the crystal clear waters of the main pool at Ridgewood.

Here's a view of the picnic area at Ridgewood in July of 2006. The club had been closed for a few years. In the distance...
05/17/2013

Here's a view of the picnic area at Ridgewood in July of 2006. The club had been closed for a few years. In the distance is the locker-room building. Beyond that was the pool area.

With the Ridgewood kiddie pool as a backdrop, Ryan, Peter and Kevin take time-out to pose for a picture. No, there was n...
02/21/2013

With the Ridgewood kiddie pool as a backdrop, Ryan, Peter and Kevin take time-out to pose for a picture. No, there was nothing wrong with Kevin's hand other than it was unable to hold still for the photographer.

The three boys all lived on Devonwood Dr. in Cheshire.

This picture was taken about 1991.

02/18/2013

In June of 2008, the following was written on a message board in response to an inquiry as to why Ridgewood closed:

"My family and friends were members of Ridgewood for several years when our kids were young. From what I was able to gather, the first thing that happened was that the opening of the pool in Cheshire decreased the Ridgewood membership quite a bit. Some people had the opinion that the elderly people who owned the club were unwilling to change things in order to remain competitive, unwilling to allow anyone outside their sphere to take charge and make it more attractive to modern families, etc. For example, the place used to shut down at a certain time in the evening and they would run "adults only" dinners, but today's families usually keep their kids with them and prefer "adults and kids" dinners, and the owners reportedly were unwilling to change the formula. Therefore, they had whole evenings when families couldn't attend and had to leave the premises, and the place would be serving dinner to a couple dozen octogenarians. There was a weird thing with the very nice clubhouse also almost never being used, and people felt that they joined a place where they were not allowed in the clubhouse...it was sort of "off limits" except for a couple times a year, and people would have a membership for almost the whole summer before they would see the inside of the clubhouse. The feeling was that it was reserved for the owners, it was a very weird vibe. I guess the whole thing became an issue of whether the place would change with the times or whether the owners would retain control and do it their way, and ultimately they ended up closing. I heard a rumor that the structure of the legal documents to the property required the owners' family members to run the organization when the owners stepped down, and I heard that some of the owners' children did not want to take over, or did not live in the area and thus could not take over. The place needed a lot of money spent on it constantly to upgrade and refurbish, and that may have also been an issue. I agree that it is too bad, because we just loved the place and thought it was wonderful, but you have to look at where people are going these days who join pool clubs in the area (Copper Valley, Paradise). People want services, excellent organization and places that are kid oriented. I was told at one time that the Ridgewood land was going to be sold to a home developer, not sure whether that ever happened. Anyway, I agree that Ridgewood was a special, magical place and I'm glad my family got a chance to experience it....sorry that others won't have that chance."

Another view of the main pool as it appeared in July, 2006. The grassy area to the left was where rows of lounge chairs ...
02/18/2013

Another view of the main pool as it appeared in July, 2006. The grassy area to the left was where rows of lounge chairs once sat. The place had a eerie feel to it that day, almost like Chernobyl. Simply abandoned. There were still bathing suits and towels strewn in the locker-room as if people were there just moments earlier but suddenly vanished.

SUMMER 1995 - Most of the photos from Ridgewood are of people, not the pool club itself. Here's another one. In the back...
02/18/2013

SUMMER 1995 - Most of the photos from Ridgewood are of people, not the pool club itself. Here's another one. In the background you can see the shallow end of the main pool and the overhang where everyone crowded when a summer downpour showed up unexpectedly.

The baby seen here was Hayley Crowell. Three years after this photo was taken, the Crowell family moved to Florida. Hayley just turned 18 in January and will graduate high school in May.

02/15/2013

Before starting this page, I realized there is nothing online about Ridgewood. Not a single photo was posted anywhere and there were only a few brief comments on a message board asking what happened to the place. So, we'll do what we can to preserve the memory of the club here. We've got a limited number of photos which we will post. Hopefully they will help you recall what the place was like during those summers gone by, Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Oh how I wish we had taken more pictures.

A Google view from above shows what's left of this formerly happy place. The parking lot is overgrown, the tennis court...
02/15/2013

A Google view from above shows what's left of this formerly happy place. The parking lot is overgrown, the tennis courts are not even recognizable, the main pool, the club house and the snack bar have all been bulldozed. It's hard to tell if the locker-room is still standing. About the only thing that looks the same is that long narrow basketball court. I remember that had just been re-paved in the mid 90s.

Who would have imagined it would ever end up looking like this?

Here's the main pool as it appeared in July, 2006. Vandals had visited Ridgewood many times since it closed and had thro...
02/15/2013

Here's the main pool as it appeared in July, 2006. Vandals had visited Ridgewood many times since it closed and had thrown anything and everything into the pool which was green and loaded with frogs. A real heartbreaking scene for those who remember the good times there.

02/15/2013

On Sep 28, 2008 on a message board, someone wrote:

I can't believe that Ridgewood closed! I used to go there as a child back in the early 90's when I was in 6th and 7th grade. It's a shame that it closed. Too bad there's no pictures of it online or anything.

Address

Prospect, CT

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