Founded on April 25, 1874, to promote the town's boating interests, the Dedham Boat Club was incorporated on October 29, 1874. Its first boathouse was built on the Ames Street site in 1875 and was destroyed by lightning in July 1882. A second boathouse was built on the site in 1883, enlarged in 1888 and 1902, and torn down in May 1935. The land on which the boathouse stood was given to the Dedham Historical Society on May 1, 1935, after the club was liquidated with honor on the sixtieth anniversary of its incorporation, October 29, 1934.