Bradford Beach | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 43°03′42″N87°52′23″W / 43.061667°N 87.873056°W | |
Location | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
Part of | Lake Park, Milwaukee Historic park |
Offshore water bodies | Lake Michigan |
Age | Approximately 100 years old |
Area | |
• Total | 28.3 hectares (70 acres) [1] |
Dimensions | |
• Length | 1.94km [2] |
Elevation | 3.1 m (10.2 ft) |
Website | bradfordbeachmke |
Bradford Beach is a public beach in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The beach which was constructed in the 1920s is part of Lake Park; a mile (1.6 km)-long park on a bluff above Lake Michigan. Lake Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 22, 1993. [3]
Bradford Beach falls within Lake Park which was designed in the late 19th century by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park in New York City. [4] [5]
The beach is wheelchair accessible. [6] In 2021 the rising water of Lake Michigan has shrunk the width of the beach. [7]
In the 1920s, the beach was created by filling in swampy areas near Lake Michigan. [6] [8] It has been Milwaukee's most popular beach. On the beach near the road, there is a historic bathhouse. [7] The Bathhouse was built in 1949 and includes a walkway above Lincoln Memorial Drive. The Wisconsin Historical Society surveyed it in 2011. [8]
One local resident who patronized the beach was a man named Dick Bacon. Bacon was known to work on his sun tan in the middle of winter at Bradford Beach. [9]
Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume and the third-largest by surface area, after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the 3+1⁄2-mile (5.6-kilometre) wide, 295-foot deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its easterly counterpart; the two are geologically a single lake.
Milwaukee is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is the 31st most populous city in the United States, the fifth-largest city in the Midwest, and the largest city in the state of Wisconsin.
Racine County is a county in southeastern Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 197,727, making it Wisconsin's fifth-most populous county. Its county seat is Racine. The county was founded in 1836, then a part of the Wisconsin Territory. Racine County comprises the Racine metropolitan statistical area. This area is part of the Milwaukee-Racine-Waukesha combined statistical area. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 792 square miles (2,050 km2), of which 333 square miles (860 km2) is land and 460 square miles (1,200 km2) (58%) is water. The county's unemployment rate was 5.6% in June 2021.
Kenosha is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenosha is a satellite city within the greater Chicago metropolitan area as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau. Kenosha is located about halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee, and Interstate 94 connects Kenosha to both metropolitan areas.
Shorewood is a village in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,859 at the 2020 census.
Daniel Chester French was an American sculptor of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is best known for his 1874 sculpture The Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts, and his 1920 monumental statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Interstate 794 is a 3.75-mile (6.04 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in Milwaukee County in the US state of Wisconsin. It is one of two auxiliary Interstates in the Milwaukee metropolitan area, serves the lakefront and the Port of Milwaukee, and connects downtown with the southeastern suburbs of St. Francis, Cudahy, and South Milwaukee.
The WITI TV Tower is a lattice communications tower located in Shorewood, Wisconsin, which transmits the signal of several television and radio stations in the Milwaukee area, including its namesake, Fox owned-and-operated station WITI, along with cellular and wireless communications. The structure is owned by WITI's parent company, Fox Television Stations. The 1,081 feet (329 m) tower built in 1962 was for many years the tallest free-standing tower in the United States until the Stratosphere Tower was built in 1996. It remains the tallest lattice tower in the country and the tallest 3-side lattice tower in the world.
America's 11 Most Endangered Places or America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is a list of places in the United States that the National Trust for Historic Preservation considers the most endangered. It aims to inspire Americans to preserve examples of architectural and cultural heritage that could be "relegated to the dustbins of history" without intervention.
Bay View is a neighborhood in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, North America on the shores of Lake Michigan, south of the downtown area and north of the City of St. Francis. Bay View existed as an independent village for eight years, from 1879 to 1887.
The East Side is a district of Milwaukee, Wisconsin consisting of several neighborhoods encompassing an area just north of Downtown Milwaukee to the village of Shorewood, bordered by the Milwaukee River to the west and Lake Michigan to the east. The area encompasses residences, museums, bars, shops, theaters, live music clubs and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee campus.
The neighborhoods of Milwaukee include a number of areas in southeastern Wisconsin within the state's largest city at nearly 600,000 residents.
The Milwaukee Pierhead Light is an active lighthouse located in the Milwaukee harbor, just south of downtown. This aid to navigation is a 'sister' of the Kenosha North Pier Light.
Lake Park, a mile-long park on a bluff above Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is an urban park covering 138.1-acre (559,000 m2).
Ferry & Clas was an architectural firm in Wisconsin. It designed many buildings that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. George Bowman Ferry and Alfred Charles Clas were partners.
Gallinipper was a schooner that sank in Lake Michigan off the coast of Centerville, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, United States. In 2010, the shipwreck site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
Elizabeth Ann or Anne Plankinton was an American philanthropist in the early 20th century, the daughter of Milwaukee businessman John Plankinton. She was also known as "Miss Lizzie" and the people of Milwaukee called Plankinton the "municipal patroness" because of her generosity. She made a large donation that built the first YWCA in Milwaukee. She also purchased an elaborate large-scale pipe organ for the newly constructed city auditorium.
Dick Bacon was a nudist or naturist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who was known for outdoor tanning every day of the year. He worked at Pabst Brewery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He sun tanned year-round at Milwaukee's Bradford Beach on Lake Michigan. Bacon also frequented a nude beach in Milwaukee called Paradise Beach.
Juanita Beach Park is a 22-acre (8.9 ha) waterfront park located on the northeast shore of Lake Washington in the Juanita neighborhood, managed by the city of Kirkland, Washington in the United States. It was historically the home of several popular private beach resorts before their purchase by the public in 1956. The park straddles thoroughfare Juanita Drive and features a number of amenities, including a pier, a playground, bathhouses, and athletic facilities. It is the busiest waterfront park in Kirkland's recreation system.