When Jackie Robinson came to Warwick

By Roger Gavan
WARWICK — Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns has made a strong argument that Jackie Robinson was the most important baseball player whoever lived.
The story of Robinson, the Brooklyn Dodgers infielder who broke baseball's color barrier in 1947, was recently shown on PBS television.
Robinson became the first African American to play in the major leagues when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15, 1947.
The Dodgers, by playing Robinson, heralded the end of racial segregation that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

What many local residents may not know is that after leaving baseball, Robinson found a new challenge right here in Warwick.
In 1957 he retired from baseball and shortly afterward joined coffee maker and restaurant company Chock Full O' Nuts. He soon became the first black vice president of an American corporation.
In December 1961, at Robinson's suggestion, Chock Full O' Nuts paid $300,000 to purchase an 88-acre resort in Warwick as a camp for its employees.
That resort, named "Camp Utopia" by the employees and where Robinson and his wife, Rachel, sent their own children, is now the site of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Kutz Camp on Bowen Road.
Camp Utopia has an interesting history.
More than 80 per cent of the employees of Chock Full O' Nuts at that time were African American.
And many of them, all New York City residents, had never had a vacation away from home.
Camp Utopia had a 13-acre lake, a heated pool, a 100-acre hotel, 34 cottages and sports facilities.
For a modest rate of less than $25 per week, they could rent a family cabin or an individual room with meals for $30 that could be financed through a payroll deduction.
Family activities included sports, campfire sings and a Saturday night amateur hour.
And according to a 1962 New York Times article: "Warwick residents, almost exclusively white, drop in on Saturday nights."
Robinson also visited the camp and frequented Chat and Chew, a restaurant on the present site of Warwick ShopRite, where local residents could get his autograph.
Retired Warwick Police Sgt. George Arnott believes the restaurant was owned and run by Sybil Quackenbush.
Camp Utopia, however, was short lived.
In her biography, "Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Story," Rachel Robinson reported that they had sent their children to Camp Utopia for two summers but it failed after several years.
"Jack's idea wasn't well thought out," she wrote, "and my guess is that it was also undersupported by management and they let it fail."
Prior to Chock Full O' Nuts purchasing the property in 1961, it was owned by the Grossman family, who operated Grossman's Dude Ranch, a western-theme inspired upstate getaway.
Some old timers remember it as RoLyn Lake Ranch and the lake is still called RoLyn.
"We still have two of the original wagon wheel light fixtures in storage," said Melissa Frey, director of the URJ Kutz Camp.
In 1964, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC, which is now known as the Union for Reform Judaism, acquired the land to expand its national camping presence with a teen-only leadership development camp and year round site for Reform Jewish learning
The property was purchased with a gift from the Milton and Hattie Kutz Foundation of Wilmington, Delaware.
Today the camp also operates as a retreat center from late March through mid-November (excluding the summer months), and plays host to a variety of events from youth gatherings to corporate retreats and weddings.

Editor's note: Special thanks to those who contributed research for this article goes to retired Warwick Police Sgt. George Arnott; Melissa Frey, director of the URJ Kutz Camp; Town of Warwick Historian Dr. Richard Hull; Deputy Historian Sue Gardner; and local history collector Marty Feldner.