Fresh Air and Salt Water

Fresh Air and Salt Water. North End. , For over 50 years residents enjoyed a sandy harbor beach here. Designed by Charles Eliot, of Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, North End Park transformed an area of wharves and industrial buildings into a "neighborhood pleasure ground" that included the beach, public baths, a lawn, and a two-story promenade., North End residents gained much-needed recreational space when the park opened in 1897. In time the beach attracted as many as 5,000 people a day. Swimming lessons were provided, and lifeguards kept watch from boats and shore. Intra-city swim meets were watched by enthusiastic crowds., Championed by City Councilor John F. Fitzgerald, the park also revived Boston's public bath movement, promoting cleanliness in a congested neighborhood where most homes lacked bathing facilities. Men's and women's bath houses , at opposite ends of the beach , were free, with clean towels and bathing suits supplied at nominal charge., By the 1940s, harbor pollution led to frequent beach closures, prompting Boston to replace the beach in June 1952 with a swimming and wading pool, as well as playing fields , all still in active use today., [Captions:] , Top The promenade (left) enclosed North End Beach to protect swimmers from the industrial harbor. But in later years, daring boys would jump off it and swim to the Charlestown Navy Yard and back, gaining much local prestige., Bottom images left to right North End native John F. Fitzgerald (1863-1950) was a prominent Boston politician. In 1960, his grandson, John F. Kennedy, was elected U.S. president., The first park plan included a footbridge connecting Copp's Hill Terrace to the beach promenade. The footbridge was never built because a new elevated railway above Commercial Street took precedence., Bathers of all ages cooled off in the water to escape the heat. A 1923 redesign by Arthur Shurtleff created separate beaches for women and men and a playground in place of the lawn. Beyond, a Boston police station and firehouse replaced buildings destroyed by the 1919 Molasses Flood., Reproductions of this 1911 postcard adorn homes and offices of North End residents who remember the beach fondly.