Name/Title
Bird Bath House - digital images and Box 31Entry/Object ID
2023.10.44Description
Images of the Old Bath House at Oval Beach, built and run by Charles E. Bird, circa 1900. Images with a code like "89-1-23" in the file name can be found in box 31.
This building was also called Bird's Beach House.Photograph Details
Type of Photograph
Digital scanSubject Person or Organization
Bird, Charles Edmund Sr. 1855-1941, Bird Bath House, Moore, Emily Thorpe, Oval Beach 1936-presentCollection
1880 Tourism steamship era -1930Cataloged By
Winthers, SallyAcquisition
Accession
2023.10Acquisition Method
Found in CollectionLocation
* Untyped Location
Digital data in CatalogItGeneral Notes
Note
These image(s) were copied from the SDHC photo blog [or the Jack Sheridan drive if that was a superior version] in preparation for updating the SDHC website in 2023. The location of an original or printed version of these photos was unknown at the time of cataloging.Create Date
April 13, 2023Update Date
October 16, 2024
![HM75BirdBathouseWinter.jpg 977KB: This image was featured as History Mystery #73 with the solution: The Bird Bathhouse shown here ca 1907 was located where the Oval Beach was created thirty years later.
Hi Sally, This beach house was located in the area of the present day oval. When the Forward Movement [later the Church Camp/Camp Gray] opened in the early 1900s a road was constructed from the Kalamazoo River ferry landing to the FM camp. The road also created easier access to the Oval area. And the access led to use of the beach area followed by creation of the Bird Bathhouse. See attached photo. The photographer was out on the ice, making the bath house look further from the waters edge. Note the tower atop Mt Baldhead on the upper left. Jack [via email, 5 Apr 2023]](https://d8e7jbdw4fu0e.cloudfront.net/4124/eb3f5fe0-da3e-11ed-ae40-0d1c74fe3a03-vUU1i9k.lg@2x.jpg)
