Good Clean Fun: The Rise and Fall of Cleveland's Bathhouses, 1900-1950

Bathing beaches began to increase in popularity in the early twentieth-century in Cleveland. Locations such as Edgewater Park and Gordon Park established themselves as recreational beach spaces alongside Lake Erie. As the population of Cleveland began to assert itself as a growing presence, the transformation of the natural landscapes into spaces of public recreation became common. Popular among the middle-classes, these parks allowed citizens to enjoy the outdoor lakefront with their neighbors or enjoy a bath at one of the indoor complexes. For these citizens, enjoying a day at the bathing beach became a popular form of recreation, a place where citizens could enjoy the natural landscape, the waters of Lake Erie, or a relaxing bath.

The popularization of bathing beaches would provide a template for the public bath movement. As bathhouses became popular in other cities many Cleveland postcards during the first decade of the twentieth-century depicted scenes at bathhouse locations and bathing beaches. Middle-class Clevelander's used bathhouses to demonstrate the city's rise and use of recreational space for outsiders. While primarily spaces of recreation, these citizen's began to develop significant ideals of cleanliness and order. These ideals of cleanliness, present in this form of public recreation, would influence the public bathhouse movement's argument in decades to come that the city would benefit from the cleanliness of the immigrant poor.

While popular among middle-class citizens, the bathing beaches at parks such as Edgewater and Gordon were not designated spaces for them. These public spaces offered different recreational and practical purposes for citizens. As some enjoyed the recreational opportunities on the beach front, others utilized the space for the necessity of bathing. Recognizing this, citizens and city officials alike noticed the growing need of bathing facilities in Cleveland. In an age when indoor plumbing was still a luxury of the elite and bathing had carved a place for itself in recreational space, public baths emerged as a popular means to reform.