Page 4 of the 1950 Newcomers key to Fort Wayne ISL_IND_Pam_AllenCo08_02 in the Indiana Historical Print Collectionin the Indiana State Library Digital Collection. Aerial view is from the East side of the St. Joseph River. Farm field looking area lower left is where Zollner Stadium is now located. Baseball diamond with light poles on top West side became the Carrington Field for many years but is now shown as Camp Caine Members Only between the parking lot of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum and the St. Joseph River. The curving road top left is named Cadet Drive today shown below in the Google Aerial Map. Notice today's North Anthony Boulevard appears to be a dead-end road that ends in a low spot with trees and vegetation at the bottom right in the photo. The dam completed in 1933 is only known as St. Joseph River (In-Channel) Dam (Allen County, IN) on this IndyStar webpage.
Municipal Beach is NOT shown in this 1935 map where the current Coliseum Boulevard is above 25 then called California Road and stopping shortly east of Parnell Avenue before a bridge was built over the St. Jospeh River south of what looks like a shaded wetland area in this map. The State of Indiana land is where the dam crosses the river to what is now the Zollner Stadium area and the northern section was part of the history of the Indiana School for Feeble Minded Youth. You can also see the road curving east below the 26 acre Hayden land is now St. Joe River Drive. Allen County, Indiana Description: This is a 1935 map of Allen County showing property owners. Lists of the county officials are listed along the top. From the Indiana State Library Digital Collection. FEEDER is the location of the former feeder canal for the Wabash & Erie Canal.
Current Aerial View from Google Maps shows the Municipal Beach area now labeled Camp Caine Members Only East of the coliseum parking lots and north of Johnny Appleseed Park. Notice California Road is north of East Coliseum Blvd. leading to the Mastodon Alumni Center. Zollner Stadium is East across the St. Joseph River and the drive with the curve now labeled Cadet Drive goes North around Concordia Lutheran High School connecting with North Anthony Blvd. at Zollner Stadium.
When looking at these photos realize from the maps above there was no bridge near the beach to easily go from one side of the St. Joseph River to the other side. Although it does appear pedestrians could walk across the dam in 1936, current Street View photos from Google Maps shows the dam is fenced. The Johnny Appleseed Bridge was not built until 1947 from information on our Johnny Appleseed Burial page.
Saint Joseph PathwayStreet View photos from Google Maps shows the dam is currently fenced to prevent pedestrian crossing. Street View photos from the East side of the dam also show the dam is fenced from the public.
The 1936 photos below appear to show people were able to cross over the dam.
Municipal Beach Description: Municipal Beach, Fort Wayne: now city utilities, showing swimmers, 1930s, west of St. Joseph River dam, with dam and utilities building in background.
St. Joseph River Dam 1982 from opposite side of St. Joseph River. Description: Looking up river at the Dam on North Anthony Blvd by Zollner Stadium. St. Joseph River and Municipal Beach
Municipal Beach Park Description: Swimming at Municipal Beach Park, Fort Wayne, 1930s.
Muncipal Beach Park Description: Swimming at Municipal Beach Park, Fort Wayne, 1930s, long shot.
Baseball at Municipal Beach Park - Description: Municipal Beach Park, Fort Wayne (now city utilities), baseball diamond during a game.
The first day of summer initiates the beginning of heat and humidity in northeast Indiana, and sees the Fort Wayne families looking for ways to cool down. The people of Fort Wayne found that swimming was one of the best ways to beat the heat. City officials recognized the need and established two swimming pools at Lawton and Swinney Parks in 1918 and 1922, respectively. As the demand for supervised swimming facilities grew, the inadequacy of the local pools became apparent. In 1936, in response to the demand, Mayor Harry Baals established the Municipal Beach, just south of the Saint Joseph River Dam. A popular summer attraction, the Municipal Beach was closed by the Board of Health in 1949 due to the polio scare. On this first day of summer we look back at the local swimming holes and beachwear from years gone by. Be safe and have fun swimming this summer! #sociallyhistory
The beach opened to the public in July 1936, and more than 7,000 people supposedly utilized the beach during that first summer. The riverbanks were graded, and sand was trucked in. Swimmers were watched over by lifeguards and floodlights, and diving boards were later installed. During the next several years, other attractions were added near the beach, including boxing rings and softball diamonds. Although there was some initial concern over the purity of the river water near the beach, tests in 1936 indicated swimming at the beach was perfectly safe. Within 10 years, however, fears of pollution grew and beach use declined. Today, just a few crumbling concrete steps and corroded handrails are left to remind visitors of what was once a most popular recreation spot.Area swimmers once flocked to the St. Joe River by Kevin Leininger August 15, 1981
from theCityscapes from the Archives of
The News-Sentinel newspaper.
August 8, 1947 during a heat wave, Paul Gombert, 40, drowned while swimming at Fort Wayne's municipal beach.
About 70 years ago, Fort Wayne's civic leaders thought it would be a good idea to build not just an arena as a tribute to those who had served their country in the military, but that arena would be the first of a three-phased project with a giant swimming pool and a 3,500-seat auditorium. The arena got built – and stands today as Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Phases 2 and 3 – well, those ideas fell by the wayside, and it turned out it wasn't a bad thing that they did. Copied from Brown: Coliseum keeps adapting Booking acts gets more difficult as other venues open Rosa Salter Rodriquez December 5, 2017 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Another article no longer online stated: An educated guess is the pool was probably meant to replace the municipal beach that closed a few years before the coliseum opened. Various public pools in city parks and a few housing subdivisions opened in the 1960s likely negated the success of a giant swimming pool at the coliseum.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: July 13 in photos July 13, 2018 by The News-Sentinel newspaper photo caption: 1936 - In July 1936, the city opened a pool, complete with Red Cross lifeguards, in the St. Joseph River below the Waterworks Dam on Anthony Boulevard. So many swimmers rushed to the pool that planned improvements to the municipal beach and the river bed became impossible - and the board of works announced a preferred route for the public to travel there.
From 1936-1949, Fort Wayne had a public beach located along the St. Joseph River in what is now Johnny Appleseed Park. The beach featured diving boards, lifeguards and a slide.
