| Pontchartrain Beach Page One |
| Construction of the art deco style bath house, 1941; a ramp connected it to the swimming pools. |
| Pontchartrain Beach at its first location, where it remained from 1928 to 1939; it then moved to the area where the former resort town of Milneburg once stood. |
| New Pontchartrain Beach Midway - 1940 |
| The old Milneburg Lighthouse, also, known as the Port Pontchartrain Lighthouse, was constructed in the lake just off the south shore in 1838 in the resort town of Milneburg. This is the spot where Pontchartrain Beach was eventually built (the area having, long ago, been annexed by the city of New Orleans). Milneburg was popular among the city's residents in the 1800's and early 1900's; it contained many houses, or camps, built on piers over the water. In the 1930's, the levee board did a reclamation project and the Milneburg camps were destroyed, as what had been water, became land. However, the lighthouse survived and turned into a popular landmark when the amusement park was built around it. |
| 1940 - About the time the beach opened; notice the Lighthouse, still in the same spot, but now located on the amusement park's midway. |
| The Lighthouse stood at the entrance to Kiddieland and was a popular meeting place for beach-goers, as was the clown head in the photo above. |
| The Zepher |
The historic
Milneburg Lighthouse
as it is today, fallen
into a state of
disrepair, waiting for
someone to rescue it.
It rests on property
now owned by the
University of New
Orleans.
Milneburg Lighthouse
as it is today, fallen
into a state of
disrepair, waiting for
someone to rescue it.
It rests on property
now owned by the
University of New
Orleans.
| The lighthouse when the community of Milneburg was still there. |
| View from lighthouse after the reclamation, before the amusement park was built. |
| Another view of the lighthouse after the camps were destroyed, but before the reclamation. |
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| Pontchartrain Beach first opened its gates near the intersection of Robert E. Lee Blvd. and Bayou St. John in 1928 (just a stone's throw from the old Spanish Fort Amusement Park). In 1940, it moved to the Lake at Elysian fields, where the old resort community of Milneburg once stood. And from 1940 until it closed in 1983, Pontchartrain Beach was the summer fun destination of choice for New Orleanians of all ages. Visitors could swim, wade or build sandcastles on the man-made beach; swim in one of the three pools; take a chance at a game of skill in the Penny Arcade; enjoy the wide variety of rides: the Zepher was the hands-down favorite, a roller coaster of serious proportions, or the Ragin Cajun, the "Wild Maus," the Ferris Wheel (what a beautiful view from the top of the Ferris Wheel at night, looking out over the lake and the lights of the midway), the Bug, the Tilt-o-Whirl, the Haunted House, Bumper Cars, Laff-in-the-Dark, Flying Horses or dozens of others. For the little ones, there was Kiddieland, complete with a Junior Zepher; or visitors could stake out a choice spot to watch the famous stage shows that attracted lots of celebrites. -- Nancy |
