In 1897 the Holyoke Street Railway Company began constructing the Mount Tom Railroad, as well as what would become known as Mountain Park, a trolley park and later an amusement park on the east side of the mountain. The project changed hands several times until its closure in 1988 when competition from larger amusement parks gradually sapped business away from what had become affectionately known by local residents as The Queen of the Mountain. The Mount Tom Summit House was also constructed on the cliffs of Mount Tom in 1897, but it burned three years later. Subsequently, rebuilt, by 1902, the property became the first parcel of the Mount Tom State Reservation, however this second house also burned in 1929, in part due to a series of failures in its water systems. The original foundation was not used again, however days later it was decided a much cheaper and smaller sheet metal structure would be built adjacent to it, housing a restaurant and souvenir stand. Because of its construction and lack of grandeur however, it remained unpopular, with one local patron, Katherine Root, remarking the wind sounded like thunder when it roared through the building and it rattled constantly; it was ultimately dismantled a year after the railroad, in 1939. The ruins of the old summit house foundations remain prominent structures, visible on the mountainside today. In 1933 the Civilian Conservation Corps assisted with the construction of reservation structures and park roads; their work also remains visible today.