Travel in Time: White Court

Swampscott has been a town since 1852 the year villagers separated from Lynn.

One highlight from its 159 years dates to the mid-1920s.

In 1925, President Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace, stayed at White Court on Little’s Point Road in Swampscott.

Today, the stately building houses , which opened in 1964.

But in 1925 when President Coolidge came to town by train, White Court was a residence, said Louis Gallo, a Swampscott historian.

Rum runners were known to make clandestine landings in the area near White Court.

Magazine articles from the time of Coolidge’s visit said that Navy ships had chased the rum runners from nearby coastal waters so they would not be plying their trade during the president's visit.

These were the years of Prohibition. 

Some 30 years earlier, in 1895, the building was designed and built by Little and Brown, Boston architects, for owner Frederick Smith of Dayton, Ohio.

Smith was CEO of a window and door company, Gallo said. 

White Court got its name because its color, like today, was primarily white.

White Court was also known as the Great Colonial Pile, Gallo said.

Years before Coolidge came to White Court he had spent time in town. This was during his tenure as governor.

He came to Swampscott to visit Frank Stearns, a department store owner, Gallo said.

Stearns owned an estate in town.

The owners of many large department stores had summer homes in Swampscott, Gallo said. 

It was Stearns who arranged for the Coolidges to summer at White Court, the Summer White House, for $1, Gallo said.

While Coolidge and his wife stayed there, they did not make much of a splash on the social life in town, Gallo said.

Locals would see Grace Coolidge walking her dog to the New Ocean House Hotel. Residents would sometimes see the president walking with his wife on local roads or at the beach.

Local historian Louis Gallo referred to the book, In the Era of the Summer Estates, 1870-1940, by Dorothy M. Anderson, for some of the information he provided Patch.