The Purple Cat tram headed to Glocester Memorial Park – to become a new PHS student project

GLOCESTER – The antique Purple Cat streetcar originally scheduled to be located at Al Costantino’s new construction site in downtown Chepachet Village has found a new home.

“Obviously we’ve all been talking about this for a long time,” City Council Vice President Stephen Arnold said at the recent board meeting. “It’s a difficult issue because I think everyone here wants to preserve it. I think everyone here sees the opportunity to do something really cool. There were a lot of different plans, and this plan has been in our minds for some time.”

It was about finding a place for the historic tram, either on school or city grounds, and the question of who could restore it as part of the city’s history. The wagon was once used to transport mill workers from Woonsocket to Pascoag. The transportation system was eventually discontinued and replaced by buses, and in 1927, former Purple Cat owner Kevin Lavoie’s grandfather purchased two of the cars and moved the buildings to Chepachet.

The Purple Cat Restaurant opened in 1929 and used one trolley as a kitchen and another as a lunch counter. Ken and his wife Rose Lavoie ran the business from 1964 to 2007 before closing the restaurant. Ken Lavoie died in 2018 and Rose Lavoie died in 2017.

After purchasing the land on which the structure remained in 2022, Costantino planned to restore the tram and place it in the new development. But the investor later decided there was no room for it and offered the car to the city for free, saying he would move it wherever city officials wanted it at his own expense.

“I think everyone’s end goal is to try to preserve it and make something really special out of it later,” Arnold said.

Under plans approved by council, the new location will be Glocester Memorial Park, where Department of Public Works Director Gary Treml explained the float will rest on wooden blocks on a flat surface. The car, which sits on steel supports, is currently located in a building on Route 100 in Glocester. Treml added that Costantino said he would pay for the move.

“They will provide the crane,” Treml said. “They will provide the truck to take it there. All I need to do is provide the blocks to install it on. Once it’s there, they can do whatever they want with it.”

Inland Marine of Glocester has volunteered to pack the car once it is relocated, and it will be available for Ponaganset High School construction students to work on in the future. The students, officials said, will hopefully be able to renovate the building for future use as a historical landmark or learning facility.

“I asked them for a quote and they said they would like to do it for the school and the children,” said Council President William Worthy.

“I’m excited about the game plan,” Arnold said.

“It’s great for the kids to be able to work on this – to start with this grassroots project,” added Councilman Jonathan Burlingame.

“I appreciate the effort last spring,” Foster-Glocester School Superintendent Renne Palazzo told the council. “It’s exciting, as you said, to see if we can restore this and give it back the life that it had. There are many, many, many steps that need to be completed before then.”

Palazzo added that some work will need to be completed by professional restorers before student renovations can begin.