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General Info
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Columns
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Multimedia
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Drive-In Theaters
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Indoor Theaters
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Parks and Fairs
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Auto Racing
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Boat Racing
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Gas, Food and Lodging
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Cities and Towns
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Recreation and Sports
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Roadside Michigan
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Jefferson Beach |
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Name: Jefferson Beach Street: Jefferson Ave
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City: Saint Clair Shores County: Macomb
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| Open: 1927 |
Closed: 1959 |
Status: Demolished |
| Web Address: N/A |
| Notes: Site is now occupied by Jefferson Beach Marina. |
| Number of visits to this page since February 23, 2007: 31126 |
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Entry Date: - 2/17/2010 - Unknown - My Grandmother was a lifeguard at Jefferson Beach, she has some amazing photographs of her time spent there. She was approached on several occasions by news paper photographers (as she is a very lovely looking lady) The photo''s really capture the time and the people of the era. Would love to share. If my Grandma would let me get my hands on them :)
Entry Date: - 1/14/2010 - marty - does anyone have any pic''s of brownies on the lake??
Entry Date: - 7/7/2008 - Suzie Martin - 5th photo is indeed HARRY STAHL, general manager of Jefferson Beach in the 50''s.
http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/amuse.asp?id=310&type=2
Entry Date: - 5/21/2008 - Eileen Trombley Glick - I''m fairly certain that Jefferson Beach Amusement Park was located in Macomb County, not Wayne. I grew up in SCS, my dad worked at JB and it''s there that he met my mom in 1947.
EXCELLENT website. LOVE the motel section. Brings back some terrific memories. Thanks for all of your hard work!
Eileen
Entry Date: - 4/26/2004 - Bonnie Heacox - As a child I lived on Hanson Ct. St. Clair Shores. I did go to the beach and I also had two grandfathers who worked for the park one was a gardener and the other did signs (Betz signs). My dad also had worked there, he worked the kiddie rides. The park was really pretty at that time. The entrance had flowers and all bright colors of flags on both sides of the walk in. The picnic area was really nice, we had swings and slides and deep light sand. When I was real young I used to stand and look out the upstairs window and could see the top of the roller coaster, and you could allways hear the sounds of people yelling and alot of noise. It really never botherd us. I liked winning the cupie dolls made out of that thin plastic and they were on a stick with feathers and sparkles or one of the ones made out of plaster, we had so many different things made out of plaster. When I got older, I enjoyed the penny arcade. There was so much to see and do. My uncles used to win dance contests and would bring home cakes. They went there quite often and their friend Betty Hutton would get up on stage and they would let her sing. This is before her hollywood days. I remember making a record at this one booth for my dad in the army. I wish I could go back in time just one time. The park became run down and a wild crowd of people started hanging in there, there were fights and all kinds of trouble. So, mom said no more park. It caught fire and it made me sick to see boats stored in the ballroom. Now when I walk past I think I can still hear the laughter and the yelling of people and the clicking sound of the old woody.
Entry Date: - 1/19/2004 - St. Clair Shores Historical Commission - By Stan Simek -Part 1- Along the banks of Lake St. Clair is the suburban community of St. Clair Shores. With little industry and no mega-shopping mall, large crowds tend to congregate here only for special events like the annual Fourth of July fireworks or the Memorial Day Parade. However, once, large crowds were aweekly if not daily occurrence in St. Clair Shores. Now nearly hidden in the midst of condominium developments and a large marina is a building of Spanish design with a "floating dance floor". The building remains hidden in a spot where pleasure seekers from Wayne and Macomb counties once enjoyed themselves and where the novelty of electric lights illuminated a beach area for night swimming. The building is a dance hall and the area that once surrounded it was the amusement park called Jefferson Beach. Closed in 1959 and converted into a marina storage facility, the dance hall and shooting gallery buildings are the only remains of the park. Jefferson Beach opened in 1927 and was constructed at a cost of over one million dollars. However, thats not where the story of Jefferson Beach begins. It starts at another amusement park once located near Belle Isle on the former site of the Uniroyal tire plant. Electric Park was one of the first amusement parks in Detroit. The novelty of electricity and electric lights gave the park its name. Fred W. Pearce, a nationally-known builder of roller coasters, constructed one of his many infamous rides there, the Trip Thru the Clouds. Two other players at the future Jefferson Beach, Cyril Wagner and Harry Stahl, started their careers at Electric Park. Pearce was an interesting man. Two generations of his family had constructed roller coasters and amusement parks. At the turn of the century, he and his father operated a steamboat on Conneaut Lake In northern Pennsylvania. An amusement park called Exposition Park that was later renamed Conneaut Lake Park was located there. Many inventions are attributed to him, including rot-resistant pressure-treated creasoted lumber for the construction of roller coasters. Sometime in the mid-1920s, as the city of Detroit grew up around Electric Park, the noise, crowds, and general commotion associated with amusement parks led to a movement to close the place. That drive succeeded and the park went out of business. Amusement parks were usually located near the end of transportation lines because owners of streetcars and trolleys sought a way to increase ridership on weekends. They found that locating an attraction at the end of the line was a way to do this. Kennywood Amusement Park in Pittsburghis an example of such a "trolley park". When Electric Park closed, Cyril Wagner headed out to Eight Mile Road and Gratiot where he constructed Eastwood Park. The streetcar line ended near the parks entrance. Then Pearce headed out to St. Clair Shores. Why he chose Jefferson near Nine Mile for his next amusement park is unknown. Perhaps his memory of Exposition Park influenced Pearces decisions to locate and design Jefferson Beach as he did. Pearce selected George Haas, a local architect, to design his new park. (Mr. Haas is featured in Volume 3, Number 2 of our Muskrat Tales.) Construction began in early 1927 and like Electric Park, Jefferson Beach would feature a system of electric lighting so even the beach would be completely illuminated for night bathing. White sand was trucked in from the shores of Lake Michigan to enhance the beach.
Entry Date: - 1/19/2004 - St. Clair Shores Historical Commission - -Part 2- No project of Fred Pearce would be complete without the requisite roller coaster and Jefferson Beach would have a large one. Just north of the dance hall and constructed in a straight line toward Jefferson Avenue, the out-and-back coaster was built at a cost of $80,000 and was considered the longest in Michigan at nearly 1,000 feet! North of the coaster would be the picnic grounds and baseball diamond. The midway and rides were arranged south of the coaster, and parking ran the entire width of the park along Jefferson Avenue or just about anywhere drivers found space to park. The Merry-Go-Round constructed by the the Philadelphia Toboggan Company at a cost of $35,000 was located in the center of the parks many rides. (These Merry-Go-Rounds are featured in another article of this issue of Muskrat Tales.) The parks southern border featured the fun house, archery range, concession area, and photo studio. Hundreds worked on the park to complete it before the grand opening on July 2,1927. Art Blacks orchestra would provide the music at the opening, but not at the still-incomplete dance hall. Another bit of information that captured my attention was the notion of a "floating dance floor". During a research visit to Jefferson Beach, Judge Crouchman encouraged me to drive my car up a ramp into the dance hall. On the way, it occurred to me that I was driving my car onto the second floor of of a building that had a wooden floor and was nearly 70 years old! The second floor, which is now used for storage of cars and boats, is still supported by giant wooden beams that once accomodated crowds of 4,000 to 10,000 revelers. The dance floor itself has a unique feel and spring. I cannot explain the sensation, but now I feel I understand how a "floating dance floor" feels. The parks original Ferris wheel I called the "Swooper" was not a real Ferris wheel in the classic sense. Instead of a large round wheel, the Swooper was oval in shape. A round ferris wheel rotates, but the Swooper did not. It remained stationary while steel cables pulled the seats attached to the steel cables pulled the seats attached to the steel brackets around the trunk core. Because of its oval design, more cars moved into a boarding position than in a traditional wheel, making the ride easier to load and unload passengers. The arch collonade entrance to Jefferson Beach which was a landmark for the park until it closed was not the original entrance. The first arch which was constructed of wood and was 50 feet tall and 24 feet wide was destroyed by fire. The "Moorish design" arch burned down shortly after the park opened in 1927. The cause of the fire was unknown and remains a mystery to this day. Only two people were present on the site at the time of the blaze: John Goss, a night watchman, and Edward Schudnich, a pump house worker. Goss noticed the fire when he was talking to Schudnich and phoned the fire department. The arch was quickly engulfed in flames and could not be saved. Written accounts claim Goss believes the fire was caused by spontaneous combustion involving several cans of paint stored near the arch. Defective wiring was ruled out since wiring the arch structure had not even been started. Firemen at the scene believed the fire was deliberately set that conclusion is still supported by a few people familiar with the park at the time. However, who set the fire and the motive remain unknown. During 1940s both the Army and the Navy operated recruiting booths at Jefferson Beach. During this time the Wagner family, owners of Eastwood Park, purchased Jefferson Beach to eliminate the competition. The park was subsequently closed for two years but reopened in 1946 with Harry Stahl, an interesting and popular man, as its general Manager, However, more changes lay in store for Jefferson Beach. Alvin Wagner, the marinas present owner, said that Jefferson Beach never made any money. Prior to World War II, St. Clair Shores was a summer resort community, but in the post-war boom, the city was growing rapidly, On April 15, 1955, a huge fire swept through Jefferson Beach, causing damage of nearly $100,000. The fire destroyed the fun house and an adjoining concession building on the south side of the park. Although the park remained open for another three years, it was the beginning of the end. The park business began changing in the mid-1950s to include about 500 boatwell facilities and the focus of operations became the sale of boats and marine equipment. A marine gasoline service station and facilities to service boats were constructed. With the successful birth of this full-scale marina, the business closed as an amusement park in 1959. Remaining park structures were razed during that summer and expansion of the marina was rapid. Today Jefferson Beach Marina offers few clues about the amusement park that once existed there. The dance hall remains and is visible from Jefferson Avenue. The road that travels into the marina carries the name of the man who managed the park for years, Harry Stahl. The shooting gallery building on the south side of the park still stands, bullet holes and all. The giant cement block that anchored the Tumble Bug ride is still there. Nothing else remains that would indicate an amusement park once operated there. Fred Pearce, the park founder, died the year the year the park closed. But if you have been around for a few years and grew up east of Woodward, chances are you harbor fond memories of a visit to Jefferson Beach at least once in your youth.
Entry Date: - 12/30/2003 - Karen P Hunt - My mother lived on Doremus, in St. Clair Shores, a short cut to the park. She said it was trememdously busy during the summer. There was no admission charge, just fees to go on the rides. Her favorite thing to do was to watch the boat rides.
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| OLD PHOTO FROM WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY |
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| ENTRANCE |
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| INSIDE DANCE HALL FLOATING FLOOR |
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| PAVILLION |
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| BEACH HOUSE |
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| PAVILLION |
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| ROLLER COASTER |
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| FUN HOUSE |
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| KIDDIE RIDES |
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| RIDES |
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| ROLLER COASTER |
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| CAROUSEL |
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| ARCADE |
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| POST CARD |
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| POST CARD |
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| AERIAL VIEW |
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| TICKET |
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| BEACH SIGN |
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| FIRE |
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| FIRE |
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| FIRE |
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| RUINS |
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| OLD AD |
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| 1952 AERIAL |
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