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A mecca for students and millionaires

Now known as an educational institution, the Fenway began as a haven for the rich and notable that, for a few months each year, teemed with social life.

By TERRI BRYCE REEVES
Published November 6, 2005

	[Special to the Times]
	In its heyday, the Fenway hotel provided entertainment that included its own orchestra and leisurely lawn games. Attorney George Rahdert announced last week that he had a contract to buy the property and plans to restore the aging facility, now Schiller International University, to a luxury hotel and put it on the National Register of Historic Places.

DUNEDIN - Before it was Schiller International University, before it was Trinity College, the Fenway was a playground for the rich and famous.

The hotel was constructed in 1925, according to documents provided by Clearwater historian Mike Sanders.

George H. Bowles of Clearwater bought it before it was finished and installed the county's first radio station WGHB - named after his own initials.

James H. McGill bought the property a few years later and turned it over to his son-in-law, Charles Townsend "Tommy" Scanlan. For the next two decades, the 116-room hotel became a haven for millionaires and notables in the diplomatic, industrial, artistic and literary worlds.

"They came to the Fenway for one month, or perhaps two or three," a historical paper reads. "The Fenway season began in late December and lasted through mid-April. The rest of the year, the hotel stood empty."

Later, the building became home to Trinity College in 1961 and to Schiller International University in 1991.

But in its heyday, the Fenway provided all sorts of entertainment including lawn bowling, croquet, shuffleboard, tennis, pingpong and bridge.

It had dances with its own orchestra and a large pier extending into the bay where guests would be shuttled out to nearby islands.

"Social life at the Fenway continues with a round of teas, card parties, putting tournaments, yachting trips, river picnics and dances," the St. Petersburg Times reported in 1938.

At the time, dinner at the Fenway was $2.50. Lunch was $2.

[Last modified November 6, 2005, 01:58:09]