Hidden Beach - History

History

Before 1860, Cedar Lake had a much different shape, and most of the woods surrounding Hidden Beach, particularly to the south east, were areas of water and wetland instead. In 1867 the southeast bay of Cedar Lake was filled in to create a major train yard and in 1878 a large scale ice cutting operation known as Cedar Lake Ice Company was founded on the lake’s north eastern shore, which shipped ice to places as far away as St. Louis. By 1900 Dingley’s boat house occupied the end of a thin peninsula on the eastern side of the lake, which eventually widened and became the site of today’s Hidden Beach.

Despite the large railway operations going on nearby, the land surrounding Cedar Lake’s eastern shore was sold to build houses, hotels, and other such structures between 1908 and 1975. Unlike today, houses occupied both sides of Upton Ave S.

Sometime in the 1960s, Hidden Beach came to prominence. At the time, the beach was only a small grassy clearing by the shore, led to by a deer path-sized trail. It eventually became a popular nude beach. The nearby rail yard brought many travelers and vagabonds to the area.

Most of the railway yard closed by the mid 1980s, and the tracks and buildings were removed. In 1988, the primarily wealthy residents in the surrounding neighborhood paid to buy the land to the west of Upton Ave S, between the lake and the road, and turned it into a city park with a vision of establishing a nature park in the heart of the city.