Many, many days were spend in and out of the bath house by the dam. Some of us in our pre-working days spend almost every afternoon there swimming, diving and laying in the sand looking at the girls. Probably the bath house should be accompanied by photos ( if possible) of the docks, cat walk and the fantastic diving complex out in the river. Not much to rival that now a days. The bath house is a great memory!

Bathing Beach post card from 1955:

Bigger:
http://x78.xanga.com/ab6c311038236129998575/w94635936.jpg

A couple close ups from the same postcard:

Bigger:
http://xcf.xanga.com/d58d8b1b46235129998251/w94635664.jpg

Bigger:
http://xe4.xanga.com/5a6d841449335129998440/w94635824.jpg

Oh, the memories those photos bring back! My siblings and I used to spend most summer afternoons there. We went down after lunch (about 1:00) and would stay until the Kraft plant (where ShopKo is now) blew their whistle for the shift change at 4:00. The deck and low boards on the diving tower were about 5 feet above the water; there were also boards at 10 and 15 feet. I remember jumping off the higher boards; I don't know if I was ever brave enough to dive from them, though I did dive from the 5 foot boards.

The crow river is disgusting to look at, and I can't imagine swimming in the water.

I heard someone drowned when they jumped off the high board and were stuck in the muddy bottom.

Please verify this...?

Yes, it is true. It was a precious young girl. There were other close calls too. Although the river can be muddy, it was the location of the mill pond that created the problem. Tons of silt would drop off near the top of the dam, and much of it made its way into the swimming area.

This forum is an invaluable piece of MN history.
There has always been an attraction for Hutchinson.
It has prospered vastly from what I've know.

Find Hutchinson - the city has loads of archived newspapers available in the library (square in the middle of town).

Your support on all solid city ethics.

A water slide brought people over the dam. The photo here shows it. Anyone remember this?

Lost Hutchinson water slide at mill pond

As a certified water safety instructor and Sr. Lifeguard, I spent many summer days enforcing the rules of the ol' millpond as one of the lifeguards in the early 1970's. The bathhouse as well as several other historical buildings in Hutch should never have been torn down. Living just a stones throw up the river, I grew up loving the Crow, and all the summer and winter activities on the river. I am not too sure how the new dam will be, but time marches on...
Lazy days on the river were some of the best times of our lives and for those too young to remember, the pictures do not do it justice. I wonder if the kids that pee'd on the bathouse floor in 1973 and got banned from the pond the rest of the summer will read this? Oh, the stories that the millpond could tell! The death that helped close the Millpond for good happened a summer or two after I left. I believe it was Tom Getzke that was on duty at that time and he was unable to see the victim due to the cloudy water and he had to feel around, but by then it was too late...