Swimming in the Charles River

As has been extensively documented in the book Inventing the Charles River by Karl Haglund, published jointly by the MIT Press and the Charles River Conservancy, recreational swimming and sanitary bathing were commonplace along the Charles in an earlier era. At the beginning of the 20th century, millions came to the river annually for reasons of pleasure and exercise or personal cleanliness.

Research was not available until the 1950s to warn swimmers of the health risks of swimming in then contaminated water. And in 1955 the official MDC swimming areas on the Charles were closed down.

In the 1960s pools were built near Watertown Square, at the North Beacon Street Bridge, and at Magazine Beach in Cambridge. Lee Pool was constructed in front of Massachusetts General Hospital. But the public pools built by the old MDC along the Charles are now closed (Lee pool and North Beacon Street Bridge pool) or are only open for very short seasons.

"It's been fifty years since the last whistle blew and the kids were called out of the water at Magazine Beach," says Renata von Tscharner, president of the Charles River Conservancy. "It's time to take advantage of recent progress and create new ways to get access to this wonderful recreational opportunity," she adds.

While Charles River water itself is now clean enough for swimming, ways are needed to accommodate swimming that ensure swimmers will not come in contact with contaminated sediments found on the river bottom. Boston has the scientific and technical resources to find a solution to this problem so that everyone can enjoy the pleasure of river swimming.

In preparation for an exploratory cruise on the Charles on July 17th (click here to see press release), we extracted these photos from Inventing the Charles River of another time when swimming and bathing along the Charles were commonplace . . .

• As early as 1800 Harvard College constructed "swimming cribs" on the Charles, much like this bathhouse pictured in 1898. A wooden cage beneath the surface allowed fresh water to circulate easily throughout the structure.
  

• Just after the Civil War the City of Boston built a series of 6 "beach baths, like this one pictured moored along the shore of the Charles near the West End. Women and girls were allowed use of the facility for two hours in the morning and afternoon; the rest of the day was reserved exclusively for men.
  

• By 1898 two bathhouses (one partly obscured by the women's field house at the edge of Charlesbank) were located downriver from the Longfellow Bridge. Note the bathhouse to the right, with its new design devised by city bath commissioners with its tank open to the sky for "perfect ventilation."
  

• This 1899 picture shows the distinctive stone structure at Magazine Beach in Cambridge, designed by the famous landscape firm of Olmsted. The stone came from the former powder house that stood on that site—hence the name Magazine beach. Demand "exceeded all expectations" when the beach was improved, and two temporary bathhouses were constructed the following year. Notably, the masterplan advanced by the Metropolitan District Commission just prior to its recent reorganization calls for the construction of a swimming lagoon at Magazine Beach, using either water supplied by the the city of using river water.
  

• Swimming was immensely popular along the Charles in Cambridge at the turn of the Century, although this view from Captain's Island (another name for Magazine Beach) was hardly attractive. The buildings of the Brookline Gas Company and the Boston and Albany Railroad yards (still in use) can be seen on the opposite shore.
  

• By the mid-1920s, Gerry's Landing near the Mount Auburn Hospital had become a popular swimming spot. The City of Cambridge took on the responsibility of providing lifeguards and bathhouses, which it did from the First to the Second World War.
  
  
  

• These two photos, taken at Magazine Beach in 1906 and 1935, attest to the continuing popularity of the site for swimming. On some hot summer days, old time residents recall, demand was so high that Cambridge police had to block access to the beach. And to extend the bathing hours, into the night, lights illuminated the beach.
  
  

• As noted earlier, there were also swimming beaches on the Boston side of the river. The Esplanade (before Storrow Drive was built) was a popular swimming and bathing spot. This picture shows a beach in front of Massachusetts General Hospital. The Craigie Bridge (now known as the McGrath Highway Bridge) with its familiar viaduct arches (before being obscured by the Museum of Science) can be seen in the background.
  

The most recent state budget proposal offers a $500,000 increase for the pools owned by the MDC's successor organization the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) But now that the water quality allows swimming, these aging pools along the Charles River should be phased out and replaced with lagoons and river swimming.

Why not swim directly in the river once again? To make this possible, scientific and technical solutions are called for: from spot dredging, to sand covers, to floating docks and suspended containers. Research and testing of prototypes are now needed to find the best solutions.

Toward that end the Charles River Conservancy urges you to "get into the swim" and begin to urge friends, and politicians to work towards solutions that allow river swimming once again.

What you can do:

• If you know somebody who used to swim in the Charles, send us their name so they can tell us their stories.

• Collect signatures of people who would like to swim in the river again.

• Send us your ideas of where and how you imagine swimming.

At the Charles River Conservancy's 5th anniversary celebration, attended by 250 people, Harvard professor and former presidential advisor David Gergen spoke about the power of the Parklands, saying: "It's clear . . . There is much work still to be done . . . I would like to think that within the next five years we will achieve the goal that others have set forward in the past to make the Charles River swimmable. Right now, the water is swimmable, but the river is not . . . But it would be wonderful to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Conservancy at a beach along the river and then all take a dip."