Then & Now: Holland Rink, Lincoln Street, Worcester

For decades before it was swallowed up by Interstate 290, the pond at the northern end of Green Hill Park was a year-round source of fun and competition.

It was officially known as Holland Rink, a label tied to its ice-skating role in the winter. In the summer, it became a swimming hole, its seasonal title Holland Pond or Holland Pool.

Countless neighborhood kids learned to skate there. And swim there.

The rink has been gone for nearly six decades, bulldozed to make way for the highway. Several acres of Green Hill Park and a handful of nearby city streets and buildings, including the Adams Square School , were taken by the state in the 1950s and 1960s to make way for a leg of the Worcester Expressway, as it was originally known.

The area where the swimming and skating pond once stood is directly across Lincoln Street from the Hanover Insurance Group's sprawling building (originally State Mutual). The area is now part of Holland Rink Playground — a name that's likely a head-scratcher to those unfamiliar with the spot's history. (Thomas Holland was an influential city parks official in the early 1900s.)

In its heyday, when Holland Rink was maintained by the Parks Departament, winter meant skating lessons and competitions. The Silver Skates Racing Derby was an annual tradition.

Each summer, parks workers set up a dock in the pond and placed fencing to mark swimming boundaries. Neighborhood kids called the marked-off area the Crib. Many learned to swim there — either in formal lessons or by figuring it out. The mucky floor of the pond was motivation to stay afloat.

The section of the park near the pond was a favorite for those in search of good blueberries. And on July Fourth each year, the hill next to the pond was a good place to watch the city's annual fireworks display.

In the late 1960s, 12 acres of Green Hill Park were taken by the state for the construction of the highway.

A decade earlier, nearby land off Lincoln Street was bought by State Mutual Insurance for a new headquarters. The company was located in downtown Worcester for many years.

The loss of Holland Rink was decried by neighborhood residents. At one point, city officials said money from the land-taking process would be earmarked for an Olympic-sized swimming pool in the north end of the city. That plan was short-lived, failing to gain a spot in the city's capital budget of 1970.

Last week Then & Now: Fairmount Square Park, Worcester

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Then & Now: Holland Rink, Lincoln Street, Worcester