bostonzest

A Peek at the History of Swimming in the Charles River

Written by

Penny

in

, , , ,

Once upon a time, back in 1946, Esplanade Magazine featured a bathing beauty and swimmers enjoying a summer day in and next to the Charles River near the Longfellow Bridge. Look at that sandy beach!

Eabeach copy

Here are a couple more views from the Boston Public Library's Collections.

8050392775_050286afd5_z

This photo, taken circa 1940, is titled Swimming at Charles Bank and is courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.

8609546473_205e8df43c_z

Back in 1919, diving boards may have been a thing along the river or this one may have been built just for this event. The photo is titled "In diving position at start of swim competition, Charles River" and is also by Leslie Jones.

We had some very nice comments on our recent post:

Back When Harvard's Weld Boathouse Was Drafted as a Navy Training Facility …

Now, we plan to share with BostonZest readers more of the material from our collection of Charles River ephemera. The Esplanade Magazine cover is one of our favorite finds.

Do you have an Amazon Gift Certificate to use? Or do you need to buy one for a gift? Remember to click over to Amazon from here to support this site!

Details:

Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Artwork as noted above.

Related articles
Back When Harvard's Weld Boathouse Was Drafted as a Navy Training Facility…
Canoe Racing on the Charles: 1930s Marathon Style
Boston Fireworks from Another Time …

Comments

  1. John Donovan Avatar
    John Donovan

    These days, it’s not common to see people swimming in the Charles River! These photographs are certainly interesting. Even though you can swim in the river nowadays, not a lot of people actually do it.

    Reply
  2. John Donovan Avatar
    John Donovan

    These days, it’s not common to see people swimming in the Charles River! These photographs are certainly interesting. Even though you can swim in the river nowadays, not a lot of people actually do it.

    Reply
  3. John Donovan Avatar
    John Donovan

    These days, it’s not common to see people swimming in the Charles River! These photographs are certainly interesting. Even though you can swim in the river nowadays, not a lot of people actually do it.

    Reply
  4. John Donovan Avatar
    John Donovan

    These days, it’s not common to see people swimming in the Charles River! These photographs are certainly interesting. Even though you can swim in the river nowadays, not a lot of people actually do it.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts