Why no beaches in Detroit

**boater4life** · June-14-14, 11:56 AM

Why aren't there more beaches located in the city of Detroit. I know belle isle has one but why not something like Chicago has on lakeshore there. Seems as though the land is available, maybe near mariner park or even in some sections along the river where there is vacant land. I feel like something along these lines would attract more people to visit.

**313WX** · June-14-14, 12:38 PM

The leaders of Detroit in the past collectively decided that it would best to put industrial facilities along Detroit's riverfront than things such as Condos or Beaches.

There's really no more to it.

**Downriviera** · June-14-14, 12:43 PM

I agree. Belle Isle is great but a bit of a hassle to get to. How about the area west of Joe Louis Arena as well as where the Free Press plant was. Could build a man made beach there easily.

**DetroitPlanner** · June-14-14, 01:28 PM

Chicago's beaches are the result of the City Beautiful program spearheaded by Daniel Burnham [[The architect of several Downtown Detroit buildings). Chicago too at one time had a crappy lakefront. Chicago's lakefront was covered in swamps interspersed with railroads and industrial uses. Like a lot of Downtown and Belle Isle, it too was created by fill. However, Detroit put in relatively deep seawalls that only exist in few parts of Chicago's lakefront.

Even if we had money to put in beaches it probably would not be a good idea. Physics plays a roll in what we can and cannot do. Our river is unique.

In the case of Detroit, there is a little thing known as currents. This makes putting beaches along tough. A few years ago there was a small child carried away by the current from Belle Isle because they were swimming at an unofficial beach. The beach at Belle Isle is located there for a reason, it is shallow and most of the current from Lake St Clair pushing water/Niagara Falls pulling water uses the other channel.

**animatedmartian** · June-14-14, 02:46 PM

I'd imagine the narrow Detroit River is a lot less forgiving than the wide openness of southern Lake Michigan. Notice that the Belle Isle Beach, as well as Metro Beach, are faced inward away from the south-flowing currents. To create more beaches in Detroit, there would need to be large inlets created with the beaches facing southwest.

**Danny** · June-14-14, 05:44 PM

There used to be a whole line of sandy beaches in Detroit a long time ago before and after Cadillac and his men. When industry developed in the early 1800s to now 99 percent of the natural sandy beaches are either bulldozed, Earth moved, or covered up by river dykes. Yes Detroit used to have beaches but they long gone.

**Packman41** · June-14-14, 09:51 PM

Name: 1903 Swimming Pool - Belle Isle Park.jpg
Views: 1339
Size: 40.6 KB

Back in 1903 this was quite the place on Belle Isle:
http://www.shorpy.com/node/17732

**Hypestyles** · June-15-14, 12:00 PM

More water recreation is needed in Detroit. Too bad it probably won't happen in the near future.

**DetroitPlanner** · June-15-14, 12:51 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

More water recreation is needed in Detroit. Too bad it probably won't happen in the near future.

The Brennan pools should be open soon. http://www.freep.com/article/2014040...rochelle-riley

**Jimaz** · June-15-14, 07:30 PM

Why can't I stop hearing this thread's title as if spoken by Cheech of Cheech & Chong?

"Of course they be beaches in Detroit! You must be looking in the wrong place, dude."

Am I really that demented? That's so sad.

I'll just go sit in the corner now.

**nain rouge** · June-15-14, 07:51 PM

I feel the same way as the topic poster, but I've noticed that most riverside parks in Detroit are heavily underutilized [[Belle Isle and RiverWalk being the exceptions). You could put a bunch of beaches in Detroit, but the trick is to get people to feel safe enough to patronize.

**douglasm** · June-15-14, 08:42 PM

I would wonder about what might be in either the water or the riverbed. It's been a long time, but remember that from Brush Street Station downriver, it was a working riverfront and I'd wonder if there might be a problem with what's on the river bottom.

The other thought I had was similar to a problem we ran into in my little town. We've got a chance to get some property donated for a regulation soccer field. The idea was gaining some traction until I asked our Public Works director two questions. 1) how much would it cost to build it and 2) how much would it cost to maintain it. Detroit obviously couldn't maintain Belle Isle, could it afford to maintain new park areas along the riverfront?

**DetroitPlanner** · June-15-14, 09:32 PM

Ahh whats wrong with a little lead an pcb's? It will make a man outta ya douglasm!

**EastsideAl** · June-16-14, 02:38 AM

Swimming in the Detroit River is NOT a good idea. Anyone who has ever been in an unanchored boat in the river can tell you why. The current moves pretty swiftly downriver, and it would be extremely easy for non-experienced swimmers to get into trouble and be swept away. It's particularly bad where the river is the narrowest, downtown. Just drop a stick in the water there and see where it goes. The Belle Isle beach is located in one of the few spots where the current isn't so challenging.

**Hermod** · June-16-14, 07:26 AM

They tried to pick the best spot for a beach in terms of water quality, lack of current, and space. They chose Metropolitan Beach out north of Mt Clemens. It wasn't built for suburbia because there wasn't much suburbia back then. It was built for Detroiters.

**Smirnoff** · June-16-14, 08:25 AM

What happened to the swim mobiles......

**EASTSIDE CAT 67-83** · June-16-14, 01:06 PM

When I was a kid we used to go swimming in the river from Lakewood Park, there was a small spot just east of the Handicap center fence line that was about 12 feet wide, not 100% sand but a mix of sand and very small and fine pebbles that were easy on the feet, on either side of our sweet spot the rest of the shoreline then was the standard piles of broken concrete and rebar. This was a few years before they put the seawall in but back in the early 70's it was our little slice of heaven on a hot summer day!

**TheUsualSuspect** · June-16-14, 01:06 PM

I know it's slightly off-topic in a dark, dark way, but am I the only one whose ever mused about the quantity of human remains and in a similar vein, disposed-of handguns which might be found at the bottom of the Detroit river?

Or would a smarter criminal motor-boat out to Lake St. Clair to dispose of a body and/or evidence...

**EASTSIDE CAT 67-83** · June-16-14, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

What happened to the swim mobiles......

Smir....What a blast from the past, I swam in one on the corner of Avondale and Manistique one summer.

**Mackinaw** · June-16-14, 01:34 PM

I don't think that the underwater topography along the mainland shoreline lends itself to a beach. There is no consistent wave action. Moreover, it's a river.

However, there is a beach in the city. At the Belle Isle beach, the topography is oddly bay-like, and the main current goes through the south channel, away from the beach. Moreover, the nearby land has never been industrialized, and the river bottom there is quite natural and free of the sorts of post-industrial waste deposits I suspect you'd find along the mainland.

We don't have lakeshore like Chi, hillsides like Pittsburgh or San Fran, or really any very dramatic features other than the river. While perks, thankfully there are innumerable great cities on boring landscapes.

**jcole** · June-16-14, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by TheUsualSuspect

I know it's slightly off-topic in a dark, dark way, but am I the only one whose ever mused about the quantity of human remains and in a similar vein, disposed-of handguns which might be found at the bottom of the Detroit river?

Or would a smarter criminal motor-boat out to Lake St. Clair to dispose of a body and/or evidence...

In addition to the stuff you mention, I understand that there are a ton of old cars that went through the ice on booze runs back during Prohibition as well as the booze they were hauling. Also, snagged on the sharp rocks are miles of fishing line that was caught and cut throughout the ages.

**Honky Tonk** · June-16-14, 01:44 PM

Originally Posted by TheUsualSuspect

I know it's slightly off-topic in a dark, dark way, but am I the only one whose ever mused about the quantity of human remains and in a similar vein, disposed-of handguns which might be found at the bottom of the Detroit river?

Or would a smarter criminal motor-boat out to Lake St. Clair to dispose of a body and/or evidence...

Try the Dumping Ground in Lake St. Clair. But if you tell anyone I told you, I'll deny it.

**DetroitPlanner** · June-16-14, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Smirnoff

What happened to the swim mobiles......

LOL my sister who lives in fancy Laguna Beach CA just made her daughters get into a roll-off dumpster that was delivered to her house so she could take a pic and send it to me. "We got swim-mobiles now!"

**Hermod** · June-16-14, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Mackinaw

I don't think that the underwater topography along the mainland shoreline lends itself to a beach. There is no consistent wave action. Moreover, it's a river.

Technically, it is a strait connecting two lakes [[St Clair and Erie).

**Steve203** · June-20-14, 10:54 PM

I'll echo the concerns about current and pollution. How many times do we see beaches on Lake St Clair closed? Swimming in great lake water has it's downside. I was in Lake Michigan on Silver Beach in St Joe and came out covered with oil.

When I was a kid, the places to go were Boblo, Edgewater and Walled Lake. I managed to break the dodge-ems at Walled Lake one day. Crusing along just fine, and was suddenly dead in the water. The whisker on my car that picked up power from the ceiling had snagged on one of the nails that held the metal sheathing on the ceiling and come off my car.