It was on August 1st of 1897 when the grand opening of the State Bath House took place. An estimated crowd of 25,000 visited the beach that day, with 2,143 bathers taking advantage of the new facilities. Thousands would pass through the doors as spectators, wanting to visually inspect the mammoth structure. William T. Eaton was the contractor responsible for building the bath house, while Frederick W. Stickney and William D. Austin were the designers.
Stickney and Austin were also responsible for the designing of the Metropolitan Police Station, the Pavilions, and the Superintendent’s House at Eliot Circle.
Austin was the main architect for the Metropolitan Parks Commission, and it has been said he very closely adhered to Charles Eliot’s visions when designing these structures.
The top left photo shows the bath house, with the clock facing the ocean. To the right, the large space for the changing area can be seen. At the bottom left, notice the open space in front of the pavilions; this is where the tunnels exited onto the sand. At the lower right is a photo of the washroom in the basement.
Two very clear opinions of the general public were stated throughout the day – the impressive nature of the building itself, and the “outrageous” cost of 25 cents to use a municipal bath house. These complaints over pricing would be repeated by many over the following weeks.
The recently opened Bath House Station, located where Wonderland Station now sits, was a convenient stop for beachgoers on the Boston, Revere Beach and Lynn train line.
The length of the bath house property was over 400 feet; there were 1002 open-air changing rooms, with 600 for the men and 402 for the women located to each side, with the administration building and main entrance situated at the center – there also were two rooms for bicycle storage. One thousand bathing suits were arranged by size for easy rentals. The main building would also house bathrooms and an emergency room for minor medical mishaps; a washroom was located in the basement. Hours of operation began at 10AM and ran until 10PM. A large clock on the opposite sidewalk was positioned to face the water, keeping bathers alert to know when to return their rented bathing suits. After passing through a turnstile, bathers would enter the changing area; once ready, tunnels from each changing area would lead under the boulevard to below the pavilions across the street, and then onto the sands of Revere Beach.
The bath house would enjoy a 63 summers of existence, until it was deemed unsafe and ordered to be torn down immediately in the spring of 1961.
Story by Lou Spagnola, Revere Beach Historian
