Parson's Beach

PARSON'S BEACH

Originally Parson's Beach was an area unfit for swimming. There were tons of rubbish and blocks of granite that had been dumped illegally on the property for a number of years. Yet when the weather turned hot, men, women and children would gather for unauthorized bathing heedless of the hazard. These were people unable for various reasons to travel to Revere Beach to obtain relief from the summer heat. Mayor Lawrence Quigley and the city government, realizing the problem, eventually created a suitable beach on Marginal Street to enjoy a refreshing swim.

During the summer of 1932 a crew of laborers were put to work cleaning up a section of land on Marginal Street that was loaned to the City of Chelsea by the Richard J. Green Company, a shipbuilding and ship repair company on Marginal Street. It was a piece of land with a frontage of 150 feet on Marginal Street and ran about 200 feet deep to Chelsea Creek.

The workers went about the job cleaning the old granite blocks and rubbish that had been dumped on the property. Two large cement and mud scoios that had been tied up near Green's shipyard since World War 1, were pumped full of sea water, towed out to sea and sunk in mid-ocean. The clean up appeared in the beginning to be an almost hopeless task. In May of 1933, 900 tons of white beach sand was dumped on the land. Fourteen men were put to work spreading the sand.

On June 6, 1933 Parson's Beach was opened to the public. A large number of men, women and children crowded the beach enjoying a refreshing swim and laying around on a clean sandy beach.

The name Parsons derived from the Parsons Manufacturing Company. The company manufactured wooden boxes in a factory building on the same spot the beach now occupied. On April 25, 1918 while working on government contracts an uncontrollable fire broke out and destroyed the building causing the death of a worker. The building machinery, lumber and finished goods were all lost in a general alarm fire. Although the city labeled it the Marginal Street Beach, people still referred to it as Parsons, a name the area was known as for a number of years before the beach.

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Originally Parson's Beach was an area unfit for swimming. There were tons of rubbish and blocks of granite that had been dumped illegally on the property for a number of years. Yet when the weather turned hot, men, women and children would gather for unauthorized bathing heedless of the hazard. These were people unable for various reasons to travel to Revere Beach to obtain relief from the summer heat. Mayor Lawrence Quigley and the city government, realizing the problem, eventually created a suitable beach on Marginal Street to enjoy a refreshing swim. During the summer of 1932 a crew of laborers were put to work cleaning up a section of land on Marginal Street that was loaned to the City of Chelsea by the Richard J. Green Company, a shipbuilding and ship repair company on Marginal Street. It was a piece of land with a frontage of 150 feet on Marginal Street and ran about 200 feet deep to Chelsea Creek. The workers went about the job cleaning the old granite blocks and rubbish that had been dumped on the property. Two large cement and mud scoios that had been tied up near Green's shipyard since World War 1, were pumped full of sea water, towed out to sea and sunk in mid-ocean. The clean up appeared in the beginning to be an almost hopeless task. In May of 1933, 900 tons of white beach sand was dumped on the land. Fourteen men were put to work spreading the sand. On June 6, 1933 Parson's Beach was opened to the public. A large number of men, women and children crowded the beach enjoying a refreshing swim and laying around on a clean sandy beach. The name Parsons derived from the Parsons Manufacturing Company. The company manufactured wooden boxes in a factory building on the same spot the beach now occupied. On April 25, 1918 while working on government contracts an uncontrollable fire broke out and destroyed the building causing the death of a worker. The building machinery, lumber and finished goods were all lost in a general alarm fire. Although the city labeled it the Marginal Street Beach, people still referred to it as Parsons, a name the area was known as for a number of years before the beach.
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