Lakeview Park Beach Erosion – July 1972

The beach at Lakeview Park in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s was very different from what it is today. As you can see from the two vintage postcards above, there wasn't much beach there.

And there was even less in the photo accompanying the article below, which ran in the Journal fifty years ago this month on July 1, 1972.

As noted in the article, a particularly bad storm "has left Lorain's Lakeview Park without a beach and seriously undermined the 1,100 foot promenade that extends along the shoreline.

"Concrete slabs are about ready to fall into the lake."

According to the story, the lake level rose 40 inches during the storm "and just washed over the rock piers."

The rest of the article explains the effort to secure government funding to renovate the beach and construct piers.

A few weeks later, the article below appeared in the paper on July 13, 1972, illustrating the damage at Lakeview again, as well as the erosion down at Riverside Park on the east side of the river.

If I remember correctly, it would about ten years before Lakeview Park would be completely renovated with a huge, new beach. I remember coming home from college and being amazed at how big it was. Today, it's a little smaller but still pretty big compared to the old days.