(from the Summer 2015 issue of Macomb Now Magazine)
By Denis LeDuc
School is out. The kids settle into summer. In the city the air shimmers above the hot pavement. The soft breezes of Lake St. Clair are calling with cool promise.
Families pack the swimsuits, the picnic basket and head to the park. What could be better for summer fun than an amusement park right next to the beach?
Built in 1927 on Jefferson just north of Nine Mile, Jefferson Beach Amusement Park boasted the world’s longest roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, carousel, arcade, and dance pavilion. People swam at night on the lighted beach. It was an overnight sensation, drawing thousands to the shore.
Mention Jefferson Beach to anyone of a certain age and the memory immediately elicits a story. “I loved the big wooden roller coaster and the great fries with malt vinegar and salt,” recounts Charline Kitchens Ahlgreen. “The merry-go-round used to make me dizzy and we would listen to the music from it and the screaming people on the roller coaster as we settled down to sleep on summer evenings.”
Bonnie Heacox loved the park’s natural beauty. “The park was really pretty,” she said. “The entrance had flowers and all bright colors of flags on both sides of the walk in. The picnic area had swings and slides and deep, light sand. Once, I made a record at this one booth for my dad (who was) in the Army.”
Take a good, close look at the young couple above posing in front of the entrance to Jefferson Beach. The young lady’s hair is pulled back and she wears a nautical style dress with a belted drop waist very popular in the late 1920s. She wears stockings and heels – to the beach! Yet she is a “modern” woman. She has escaped the somber colors and long, heavy skits of her mother and grandmother. Her dress is loose, comfortable and cool. Perfect to dance to the hot jazz music of the age.
The lady’s dapper gent is sporting a baggy suite from the era and a straw summer hat. In fact, all four men in the photo wear hats. Look for the boy in the backseat of the touring car with is spoke wheels and soft top.
Sadly, Jefferson Beach was destroyed by fire in 1955. The remaining buildings were town down in 1959 to make room for what is now Jefferson Beach Marina.
Photo courtesy of the St. Clair Shores Historical Commission.
I love this nostalgic stuff. It has a certain romanticism to it. I never knew it in it’s heyday. I was only 5 when it burned. But I serviced the copiers there in the sales office during the 80’s. And I serviced the copier for Great Water Yachts. I would drive up the wooden ramp to park in the pavilion where Big Bands once played for ballroom dancing. I wished I could have sneaked a peek into that long ago activity which by my time was only ghost memories known only to the rafters. It was sad news when the fire came again to destroy what was left of the previous empire. That fire was well after the time I visited/serviced the complex. I serviced the front building yacht sales, Great Water Yachts, the accounting office run by George Chessler, and the marina store which on its lower level still had signage referring to lockers and changing rooms. I could only imagine the screams from the roller coaster and others during the nighttime swims.
I took my first rollercoaster ride there in 1954. I had finally gotten tall enough to ride. It was the last week of the season and I looked forward to more rides on it in ’55. My favorite attraction though was the Fun House. It was the best, especially the big slide inside. I was devastated when it burned down.