Public swimming began on an official basis at "the head of the lake" in July '84 but the locals (myself included) had been going there for quite a few years before that. We went there because of the restrictions that were in place at Champlin Beach, which included no flotation devices and no swimming during lessons. BTW, lessons ran thru most of the day Mon-Fri so people were itchin' to find another spot that wasn't miles up the lake. Also, Champlin has a lot of slime and mud, which is hard to walk in.
A wood dock had been down at the head of the lake before I even moved to H'port. A few people swam there in the '70s but it really grew in the early '80s. The B&H rarely went all the way to the station after 1980, and lcl service ended for good around '82. The passenger cars stored there also were moved around this time. So the "fear factor" really dried up.
In 1983, an ordinance banned swimming but the cops avoided enforcing it. Plus a lot of kids just went out on rafts or inner tubes so they weren't really swimming anyway. The local gov't got the message and by the spring of '84 they were negotiating to allow public swimming there. The battered old dock was replaced by a new wooden dock (they don't last long), and a small shed was built for the lifeguards. Not long after, the spur in front of the station was removed and the caboose was moved to the spur behind the nation. And that's how "the head" looked for the next decade or so...
I spent alot of my free time down there each summer from '84 to '91- sometimes swimming, sometimes watching girls and catching whichever S-1 was on active duty. One of my best friends, Courtney Sanderl, was a lifeguard there 1987-'91.
Some adventurous folks (again this included me) occasionally went down to swim on the other side of the engine house, but that's another story.
Josh, I hope this fills in the blanks for you! Do you live in H'port now?
A wood dock had been down at the head of the lake before I even moved to H'port. A few people swam there in the '70s but it really grew in the early '80s. The B&H rarely went all the way to the station after 1980, and lcl service ended for good around '82. The passenger cars stored there also were moved around this time. So the "fear factor" really dried up.
In 1983, an ordinance banned swimming but the cops avoided enforcing it. Plus a lot of kids just went out on rafts or inner tubes so they weren't really swimming anyway. The local gov't got the message and by the spring of '84 they were negotiating to allow public swimming there. The battered old dock was replaced by a new wooden dock (they don't last long), and a small shed was built for the lifeguards. Not long after, the spur in front of the station was removed and the caboose was moved to the spur behind the nation. And that's how "the head" looked for the next decade or so...
I spent alot of my free time down there each summer from '84 to '91- sometimes swimming, sometimes watching girls and catching whichever S-1 was on active duty. One of my best friends, Courtney Sanderl, was a lifeguard there 1987-'91.
Some adventurous folks (again this included me) occasionally went down to swim on the other side of the engine house, but that's another story.
Josh, I hope this fills in the blanks for you! Do you live in H'port now?
Matt Langworthy
"It is highly likely that the 1990s were an overrated decade."
"It is highly likely that the 1990s were an overrated decade."
Typically, the boxcar was unloaded on the south side of the station- it was placed on the spur that ran next to Water Street. 