It’s July and summer is upon us with full force. Now that the kids are out of school, it’s time to take them to their favourite spot to cool off from that blazing summer sun.
If you were to ask most Sudburian beachgoers where they are headed with their towels and picnic baskets, you would have a 50/50 shot of it being either Bell Park or Moonlight Beach.
But there was a time not that long ago, just beyond the memories of most current Greater Sudbury residents, when the choice of Moonlight Beach did not exist.
Today, we are going to take a look at the development of that oasis of sun and sand on the eastern end of Ramsey Lake.
In mid-March 1961, the local press was perturbed by a situation that occurred at that week’s city council meeting, with the Sudbury Star even asking the question: “What went on at city council's property and assessment committee meeting after the press was excluded last week?”
Well, it turned out that the committee minutes showed two motions passed in the hours that remained in the meeting. One was to adjourn at 10:45 p.m. The other would pave the way for the city's second park to be situated on the shores of Ramsey Lake.
This would, of course, be Moonlight Beach, and the committee decided to obtain options on three parcels of land. These properties were owned by families with the last names: Dube, Deschamps and Steinberg.
Ambition by the city to install a new public beach and recreation ground in that area was given a boost by a visit from the Lands and Forests minister during the previous month. After that meeting, it was announced the minister would be sympathetic toward a city request for a 50-per-cent subsidy to create such a park.
The previous year, council explored the purchase of the Dube property with a view towards their park plans. However, it was expected that no subsidy would be available unless the area was developed into a park in the same style as the provincial ones, with facilities for overnight camping. News of the minister’s amenability was the shot in the arm that the city needed to get their plans rolling.
In a report to city council, the Sudbury Planning Board recommended the Moonlight Beach property for the following reasons:
- Being surrounded by rocky outcrops, there is an atmosphere of seclusion from the city. Nature dominates.
- The area is 7.5 miles from the closest smelter stacks and almospheric pollution is less than at Bell Park. Vegetation, although affected by air pollution, is less damaged than in other parts of the city.
- An outer ring road, enabling Highway 17 traffic to bypass densely populated areas of the city, must, due to terrain, pass through or very near the location. The ring road is proposed on the city's official plan. (That road would eventually be built as the Northeast bypass in the 1990s)
- The official plan sees an open-space belt along the entirety of the south shore of Lake Ramsey, thus preserving the lake.
A month later, in April 1961, the actual work toward establishing this parkland at the end of Ramsey Lake began. Its 430 acres (made up of the Dube and Deschamp properties) was expected to include the already well-known (though unofficial) Moonlight Beach area at the eastern end of the lake, which had been used for years as a swimming area due to its sandy shore.
Moonlight Beach and its buildings at the time occupied about 25 acres of the property. It was estimated that the properties could be purchased for $90,000. This came to pass on May 16, 1961, as city council authorized the purchase, capping a year of intense negotiation.
A special committee was struck to co-ordinate the work, which included, among others, George Kormos of the city recreation committee, Klemens Dembek, of the city planning board, and T. L. Hennessy, of the Junction Creek Conservation Authority.
As part of its recommendations, the Sudbury Planning Board report anticipated removal of buildings presently located on the site, improvement of the Moonlight Avenue access road, as well as camping and car parking facilities on grassland north of the beach. It also recommended improvement of the beach, erection of a change room, a small booth and a restaurant.
The report even stated that a high-class restaurant with terrace and dance hall could be developed on a vantage spot overlooking the beach. A small boat harbour away from the bathing area and a diving tower could be provided for and some of the northerly slopes could be investigated for ski runs.
"It is felt the site offers an excellent opportunity to develop a park of regional nature, complementary to the growing provincial park system which can satisfy a definite and growing need and become a great asset to the Nickel District," the report signed by area planning director Klemens Dembek stated.
By late August 1961, an order-in-council at Queen’s Park was passed under the “Parks Assistance Act”, and announced by Nickel Belt MPP Rheal Belisle, approving a grant of $31,500 toward the purchase of a $63,000 Moonlight Beach property (the 260-acre Deschamps property) for parks development. An application was then made by the city for purchase of the 195-acre Dube property.
However, in order to receive the funding, the Act stipulates the park must provide for overnight camping, including trailer-parking areas. As well, the city would be required to charge 50 cents for parking, in order to conform with charges made at all Provincial Parks (keep reading to see how this would come back to haunt the city).
A year after the Moonlight Beach odyssey began, on March 1, 1962, the city was still in planning mode. One man, though, was practically apoplectic about the expected cost.
An offer of sale for the 140-acre Holditch property, adjacent to the Moonlight Beach section, with its own half-mile lake frontage, was originally made in the fall of 1961 and was renewed by Walter Holditch, at that time, on behalf of his brother.
Holditch told the property and assessment committee the suggested price for the property to the city is $300 per acre, on a “take all” basis. But City Controller Max Silverman protested.
“The price is way out of line — I am very familiar with the property.”
City engineer T.L. Hennessy countered, “If the city passes up this opportunity to acquire the land, it is making a serious mistake.” He advocated the purchase of as much land as possible in the Moonlight Beach area because: “1. Something like half of a five-mile deep block of land at the east end of the city is Crown land. The department of lands and forests, he said, will look favorably on any plan for the city to have all or some of this land; and 2. It is cheaper for the city to buy privately owned land in the vicinity of Moonlight Beach than to have to supply services to the property owners at a later date.”
In response, Silverman retorted, “I wouldn't be for buying this at any price unless we can get adjacent Crown land as Hennessy suggests. We have enough park here." In the end, council's property and assessment committee persuaded the controller to move that the city acquire the Holditch property and the resolution was passed unanimously.
By the end of March 1962, while a long range plan was still being drawn up, the Sudbury Parks Commission put forward its hopes to have the Moonlight Beach park area in temporary operation by that summer. The commission endorsed a recommendation from Recreation Director George Kormos to provide (even if temporary in nature) the essential facilities for the upcoming summer.
In order to have the park in operation, Kormos said the following needed to be provided: a bathhouse, toilet facilities, a concession booth, parking area, picnic tables, benches, a dock, a boat and motor, and hydro and water service. He said the area would require a thorough clean up and brushing out. Two caretakers, a night watchman, two lifeguards and two swimming instructors would be the required staff.
As March gave way to April, initial expenditures to develop the Moonlight Beach area for use that summer were announced to total in the neighbourhood of $7,881.
Sudbury Parks Commissioner James Gardner outlined costs to commission members at a special meeting. They included $1,073 to be set aside for a bathhouse, $1,145 for a concession booth, $3,498 for staffing, $500 for picnic tables, and $600 for benches. All commission members agreed that the area shouldn't be left idle that summer, so it was essential to start development in the park immediately.
As Kormos said, “People will use it anyway and if it's not supervised, there could be accidents.”
Unfortunately, the development vision was handicapped as soon as it started. In April, a $24,850 cut in the Sudbury Recreation Committee’s budget was announced.
This meant that all swimming instruction and lifeguard facilities at Moonlight Beach — to be operated by the city for the first time that year — were eliminated. These would have included docks, an inhalator, lifeguard stands, and a boat and motor at a cost of $2,110, as well as, two swimming parks instructors at $700. This eliminated all but the two lifeguards in the committee's 1962 operation budget.
Three proposed permanent playground buildings at a total cost of $13,000 were eliminated. The number of temporary shacks to be built or enlarged was cut from 14 to 10, at a saving of $10,000. The Moonlight facilities were to be the committee’s first action toward development of the park. Now it would have to wait at least another year.
To make matters worse, after the 1962 Canada Day weekend and following a storm of protest from visitors to the beach who were charged 50 cents for parking, the Sudbury Parks Commission was forced to recommend that the parking fee at Moonlight Beach needed to be cut in half to 25 cents (for the time being at least).
At the city board of control meeting, Sudbury Mayor William Ellis pointed out that the province’s Parks Integration Board had not yet paid its promised 50-per-cent grant under the “Parks Assistance Act”. Therefore, in his opinion, and until such time as the grant was received, the property would be under the complete jurisdiction of the city and they were under no expectation to charge the 50 cents each that was demanded of them by the province.
These parking lot conflicts did nothing to quell beachgoers’ enthusiasm, as by mid-July 1962, the confidence in the project extolled by a few of its greatest champions at the city was proving accurate. In fact, the public's reception of Moonlight Beach had far exceeded the expectations of the Sudbury Recreation Committee.
"It's really great," said assistant recreation director Bob Bateman when he was asked for the attendance figures. "We don't have any actual figures, but the beach itself is going to capacity. We have 85 registered in the swim classes, most of them accompanied by their mothers and fathers. And then we have the casual swimmers.
"When Moonlight Beach becomes better known, it's going to be every bit as busy as Bell Park," he predicted.
At this point, the area consisted of a 1,500-foot beach supervised by the recreation committee, and maintained by the parks commission. Also available were a parking area, a change house, outdoor washrooms and lifeguard building.
There was one problem that existed for the commission (though it was a minor one for bathers). Prior to coming under city staff supervision in June 1962, most swimmers drove their cars right up onto the beach area and ruined any foliage that existed. “That will be one of the major projects for next year, restoring some of the grass above the beach," said Bateman.
And what about future expansions, he was asked. “There is an expansion program to extend the facilities, but at the moment we're waiting for preliminary draft plans," said Bateman.
“Then we'll know what the future will be.”
Well dear readers, what did the future hold for Moonlight Beach? What do you remember of Moonlight Beach’s nascent beginnings or its changes over the years. While the kids are off playing in the water or building castles in the sand, let’s gather on our blankets (no, we’re not playing “Beach Blanket Bingo”) and share some summertime tales of fun in the sun on everyone’s favourite sandy strip of land at the easternmost edge of Ramsey Lake. Share your memories and/or photos by emailing them to Jason Marcon at [email protected] or the editor at [email protected].
Jason Marcon is a writer and history enthusiast in Greater Sudbury. He runs the Coniston Historical Group and the Sudbury Then and Now Facebook page. Memory Lane is made possible by our Community Leaders Program.