Suspicious Fire Destroys Building At Former Rhode Island Amusement Park

Sept. 3, 2004
A suspicious fire destroyed a building at the former Rocky Point Amusement Park on Thursday night.

WARWICK, R.I. (AP) -- A suspicious fire destroyed a building at the former Rocky Point Amusement Park on Thursday night.

Fire officials said the building, which had housed the cooks and other staff members when the park was operating, had suffered years of abuse by vandals and squatters and was the site of previous fires.

``This is not a surprise,'' Fire Chief Jack Chartier told The Providence Journal.

A passing boater reported the fire at about 6:30 p.m. Thurdsay. When firefighters arrived, two floors were engulfed.

Firefighters prevented the flames from spreading to the nearby Shore Dinner Hall.

The roof of the building, known as the Big House, caved in and one side partially collapsed, Chartier said.

Chartier said the fire was of suspicious origin and was under investigation. The building did not have electrical service.

Rocky Point Amusement Park opened in 1847, and shut its doors in 1995.

Its creditors liquidated the property in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 1999. The park's 126 acres are considered prime real estate on the southern tip of the Warwick Neck peninsula, jutting out into Narragansett Bay.

In November, it was agreed to sell the park for $25 million to Vanderbilt Capital, a South Carolina developer that proposes building as many as 350 dwellings, most of them condominiums.

The SBA is awaiting U.S. Bankruptcy Court approval of the purchase-and-sale agreement.

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