Lakeside Park stood on the southeastern shore of Lake Wangumbaug in a grove of chestnut trees, with paths to local beaches and picnic areas for visitors enjoying the lake. Already a favorite recreational spot, it became even more popular and accessible when trolley service from Willimantic arrived on August 19, 1909, prompting a townwide celebration with speeches, a band concert, dancing, picnics, boat rides, and fireworks, before the trolley service was discontinued in 1926 as bus service and automobile traffic increased. The mill owners once controlled the gate at Lake Wangumbaug that regulated the water level of Mill Brook, and it is now controlled by the Town of Coventry in a small brick building along the lakeshore. The Lakeside Pavilion/Casino, built by Dan Killoury of Windham when the trolley line was being considered, was a two-story structure with a bowling alley and ice cream parlor on the first floor and a dance hall above, but it collapsed on August 20, 1909, the day after the trolley celebration; a second one-level structure replaced it and hosted dances and weekly bingo games to raise funds for the Catholic Church. During the 1930s and early 1940s, major bands including Sammy Kaye and Jimmy Dorsey played there, while yearly shows were presented by vaudevillians and actors from the Actor’s Colony, a section of the lake settled by retired performers from vaudeville, radio, and early television. In the 1980s, the site again hosted large town functions and dances for events such as the town’s 275th anniversary and Community Service Awards Balls sponsored by the Rotary. Excursion boats also made Lakeside Park a popular summer destination, including The Captain Nathan Hale, owned by L. Wadsworth, which carried about 12 passengers on leisurely tours of the lake; powered first by coal-fired steam and later by gasoline, these excursions continued into the 1920s and 1930s. Photographer Charles Coombs made numerous photographs of lake life into postcards that remain collectible and depict the area’s summer lifestyle. In the 1950s, the long building at the site became the Sholes Lakeside Casino, advertised as New England’s largest summer roller skating rink, and it remained a roller rink until the late 1980s before becoming an office building and, since 1990, a flea market.