PLAYGROUND OF THE SOUTHWEST IS BORN: PART I

Trains from as far away as Chicago carried tourists south to the island, where businesses called bathhouses popped up along the shoreline. Galveston tourists often wore their finest outfits for a day on the island: crisp suits, stylish hats, and formal dresses. Bathhouses such as Murdoch’s Bathhouse and Breakers Bathhouse offered guests a space to rent a swimsuit, store their streetwear, and take a dip in a monitored section of the Gulf.

Close-up of the wooden ramps leading down to the water.Wooden ramps stretched down to the shore from the bathhouses. Most controlled swimming areas established by bathhouses also featured a safety line across a designated portion of the water and on-duty lifeguards. Other amenities appeared, driven by the bathhouses’ popularity. Gaido’s, Galveston’s oldest restaurant, was first launched inside of Murdoch’s Bathhouse in 1911.
In addition to spurring new businesses ready to serve beachgoers, swimming in the Gulf prompted a few city ordinances as well. One prohibited nude sea bathing during daylight hours. “Women and children knew to avoid the beach after dark,” Durham says.
Nude night swims weren’t the only activity to regulate. Another ordinance attempted to control what women wore as they swam or lounged on the sand. “As women grew tired of swimming in heavy woolen swimsuits and swim dresses, swim stockings, and swim shoes that they were assigned, the Jantzen one-piece swimsuit came out for men,” says Durham. “In the 19-teens, women began to rent those men’s suits. And here in Galveston, there was an ordinance that went out that stated women had to be covered from their knees to their neck.”

Trains from as far away as Chicago carried tourists south to the island, where businesses called bathhouses popped up along the shoreline. Galveston tourists often wore their finest outfits for a day on the island: crisp suits, stylish hats, and formal dresses. Bathhouses such as Murdoch’s Bathhouse and Breakers Bathhouse offered guests a space to rent a swimsuit, store their streetwear, and take a dip in a monitored section of the Gulf.

Close-up of the wooden ramps leading down to the water.Wooden ramps stretched down to the shore from the bathhouses. Most controlled swimming areas established by bathhouses also featured a safety line across a designated portion of the water and on-duty lifeguards. Other amenities appeared, driven by the bathhouses’ popularity. Gaido’s, Galveston’s oldest restaurant, was first launched inside of Murdoch’s Bathhouse in 1911.
In addition to spurring new businesses ready to serve beachgoers, swimming in the Gulf prompted a few city ordinances as well. One prohibited nude sea bathing during daylight hours. “Women and children knew to avoid the beach after dark,” Durham says.
Nude night swims weren’t the only activity to regulate. Another ordinance attempted to control what women wore as they swam or lounged on the sand. “As women grew tired of swimming in heavy woolen swimsuits and swim dresses, swim stockings, and swim shoes that they were assigned, the Jantzen one-piece swimsuit came out for men,” says Durham. “In the 19-teens, women began to rent those men’s suits. And here in Galveston, there was an ordinance that went out that stated women had to be covered from their knees to their neck.”
​

Authorities tried to temper the women’s rebellion against the ordinance––temporarily. “For a while, women were being arrested for wearing the men’s suits,” Durham says. “Then finally, the police just gave up.”
By 1920, beauty pageants including the Bathing Girl Revue and the Bathing Beauty Revue had become bonafide cultural phenomenons––and didn’t require covered necks and knees.

SHARED FROM ​https://www.galvestonhistory.org/news/playground-of-the-southwest-is-born-part-i?mc_cid=91a8ae1485&mc_eid=beafb91026

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