Looking back: Sandy Beach and Shenandoah’s attempts to build pools (Part 2)
By Kaylee Lindenmuth | [email protected]
Editor’s Note: The following is the second in a multi-part series recounting the history of Shenandoah’s efforts to create a community swimming pool from the 1950s through the 1990s, including the former Sandy Beach Recreation Area. Part Two details the creation of the Sandy Beach Recreation Area and the red tape overcome to open the facility. Read Part One here.
SHENANDOAH – Once it had been realized government funds would not be received to build the pool at the Glover’s Hill site, the commission disbanded but work continued to develop a pool for the borough.
The “Jigger Dam,” one of the Kehley Run reservoirs, was seen as a potential site, and Metro Litwak, then president of the Shenandoah School Board, recommended a study regarding the use of the site as a recreational facility. Shortly thereafter, the Shenandoah Recreation Authority was formed to lead the project.
“The loss of potential federal revenues to expand the Glover’s Hill recreation site may be a blessing in disguise,” Walt Roland wrote in the Herald, describing the site as “more scenic and better suited to recreational development.
The “Jigger Dam” was the lowest of three dams along Kehley Run, two of which, at the time, served as water sources for Shenandoah. All three have since been removed.
The authority received a lease for the dam in August of 1966 and began work preparing the facility. A road and parking area was developed, and the area was cleared out of trees and underbrush, the Herald reported.
The facility, described as “one of the largest outdoor swimming resorts in the entire southern anthracite region,” was expected to be open for ice skating in the winter of 1966, and for swimming in the summer of 1967. 329 tons of sand was laid at the site in ’66 as well, creating a sandy beach, hence the name.
When the facility opened, the pool was divided into three zones — instructional, or children’s, up to four feet deep; intermediate, four to six feet deep; and expert, from six to 12 feet deep. For the first season, family season passes were $20, $12 for married couples, $8 for single adults, and $5 for students. The price of daily admission was 35 cents.
The facility, though, was not ready to open as of June 6, 1967, the Herald reported. Plans were on schedule until May 30 of that year, when it was realized insurance was necessary. Before the Recreation Authority could receive insurance for the facility, a fence needed to be built. Construction on the fence began two weeks later, and Sandy Beach opened for the season on August 13 of that year. Metro Litwak led the efforts to open the park.
Sandy Beach opened with two portable toilets until permanent toilets, a bath house, and septic tanks could be built. For its first two seasons in ’67 and ’68, it proved to be a popular locale, but, while locals liked it, Harrisburg, impatient that toilets and septic tanks hadn’t yet been installed, shut the beach down.
About a month after the facility touted its new sliding board, the Department of Health shut the facility down, demanding bath houses, septic tanks, and toilet facilities be constructed. The Shenandoah Recreation Authority, which had spent a little over $7,000 to open the facility, was waiting $10,000 in a matching grant to build the facilities.
For the next few years, Sandy Beach waded through chest-deep red tape from the state capitol, jumping through hoops to open the facility.
While closed, vandals struck the facility, several times. The May 7, 1969 edition of the Herald noted that someone had broken into the facility and tossed a 50-gallon oil drum and wheelbarrow into the water.
In the same edition, efforts to obtain a temporary permit to open the facility were outlined. The Shenandoah Recreation Authority tasked a York County firm with preparing plans for the bathhouse and septic tank to submit to the Commonwealth. Through donations from the borough and other sources, the authority had $9,000 to work with to vie for a matching grant. The authority, though, could not begin construction before receiving the grant, or they would be ineligible for the grant.
A Herald editorial in the June 20, 1969 edition questioned the state’s position.
“They made it plain that the swimming site would remain closed forever unless their very exacting conditions for sanitation were met,” the Herald wrote. “Their solemn concern was that no seepage from any septic tank be allowed to get into the stream wish is formed by the Sandy Beach overflow and runs down the mountainside into Shenandoah Creek.”
“Now to show you how consistent these boys are in their concern for public health, take the case of Mahanoy Plane,” the Herald continued. “For three summers, an open sewer ditch has existed there, much to the annoyance of residents.”
“We don’t know how many complaints there were about Sandy Beach before the state man stepped in and ordered it closed. But we do know that several complaints were lodged by Mahanoy Plane people who have had to put up with the stench, rodents, and insects. So now Sandy Beach is closed, and the Mahanoy Plane ditch is still open.”
Midway through the summer of ’69, the swimming site opened with a temporary permit while the matching grant was awaited. Photos in the Herald show crowds of children and adults cooling off in the stream-fed reservoir. Five-hundred people took advantage of free admission for opening day that year.
The red tape regarding the bathhouse and other facilities continued into the 70s, when Sandy Beach opened, again, with only portable toilets and a concession stand.
Towards the tail end of the 1970 swimming season, an $18,775 matching grant was approved, contributing to the total $35,000 cost of the bathhouse and other facilities. Construction began in September of 1971. In the first 18 days of the ’71 season, Sandy Beach had an average attendance of 245, with 4,409 visiting total.
The bathhouse was built and ready for the swimming season by February of 1972. With the facilities constructed and an operating permit obtained, Shenandoah had, securely, its own picturesque recreation and swimming area.
Part Three will outline Sandy Beach up until its closure in the 1990s.
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