Snapshot of the Past: Nighttime Along the Shore, 1952
Posted by beachwoodhistoricalalliance on October 22, 2009
Today we have for you a painted nighttime shot of our waterfront, circa the 1940s/early 1950s. It was printed on a linen postcard (hence the natural raised horizontal lines) which was created by first photographing the site and later painting the black and white image for printing.
Here you can see depicted the original yacht clubhouse, built as one of the original New York Tribune sites for the enjoyment of early residents as part of an informal property owners’ Beachwood Yacht Club. A more official incarnation, named the Polyhue Yacht Club, was created and later incorporated by consensus of interested residents in 1920, who then formally took over operation of the Tribune clubhouse (by permission of the borough commissioners). During its early lifetime, many dances, card parties, shows and meetings were held for members of the yacht and borough women’s club. Polyhue Yacht Club meeting minutes state that the original building was extended farther out over the water with the addition of the back porch-like extension and dock in 1922.
Following the construction of the larger yacht clubhouse farther west along the shore in 1926 (today the site of the Beachwood Community Center, constructed on the grounds of this second clubhouse after it burned in December 1978) it was taken over by the borough and used as the concession stand for the beach. The Polyhue Yacht Club disbanded for much of the 1930s, likely due to lack of funding as a result of the Great Depression, and was later reincorporated as the Beachwood Yacht Club in 1939. Fire destroyed the original Tribune clubhouse in 1958. Its location today is roughly marked by the entrance of the boardwalk from the beach.
Beachwood, N.J. Nov. 25 – 52
Dear Mrs. Horne,
Sorry we could not stop on our way back, we stayed shopping in Chester too long and had to get out of Philly before dark and the rush hours,
Yours truly,
Gertrude (sp?) Johnson
(will see you some other time)
Addressed to:
Mrs. Charles Horne
7 Center Ave.,
Essington, Penn.
Beachwood, November 25th, 1952.
