Report of Advisory Committee on the Bathing Beach

The earliest years of our capitol’s ‘White Bathing Beach.’

The Washington Bathing Beach Association was first organized in 1889 with the hopes of constructing a recreational swimming area on the tidal reservoir near the Washington Monument. The group requested the Commissioners of the District of Columbia to allow “a bathing beach along the shore of the titled basin adjacent to the monument grounds, and that we and all other respectable and well-behaved persons be permitted to use the said beach in accordance with the rules of the association.” – pg. 579.

A law was passed in 1890 to facilitate such a design and the beach opened the following year. This Advisory Committee report, printed in early 1902, shows the first decade of progress. A general history, financial figures, copies of correspondence, and results from a local racing competition are all included.

Four folding plans show a map of the bathing beach and proposals for a protected tidal basin with diving pools, jumping platforms, and a children’s pool. Facilities were separated by sex, with the men’s area occupying the majority of the reservoir. Racial segregation was also present, as the bathing beaches were only available to white residents. By 1925, the beaches had closed completely, partly due to pressure from African-American community leaders to integrate or build separate recreational areas along the Potomac for Black swimmers.

Sources: Washingtonian; Hillrag;