Narragansett Park was an American race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.BeginningsOn May 18, 1934, Rhode Island voters approved a measure legalizing parimutuel betting by an almost 3 to 1 margin. The following day, the Narragansett Racing Association announced plans for a $1 million race track and steeplechase course on the site of the former What Cheer Airport and filed articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State of Rhode Island. The Association chose to name their track after Narragansett Park, a former trotting park in Cranston, Rhode Island. On June 6, 1934, the Narragansett Racing Association was awarded the state's first horse racing permit. Construction was completed in less than two months at a cost of $1.2 million. The track consisted of a one-mile racing oval, a 14,000 seat grandstand, 270 betting and paying booths, a clubhouse, and 22 barns with stalls that could hold more than 1,000 horses. The City of Pawtucket constructed a new four-lane highway leading to the entrance of the track and a double track railway was built near the stands.Narragansett Park opened on August 1, 1934, with 37,281 people in attendance, including Jack Dempsey, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II, and Jesse H. Metcalf. Chinese Empress, a 40 to 1 longshot, won the $5,000 Narragansett Special. On Labor Day 1934 the track drew 53,922 patrons, the most for any sporting event in the history of Rhode Island.
