Mount Clemens Bath Houses Page 1
(Double-click on the individual
thumbnails to see the full-size photos)
(Many of the images appearing on this page are courtesy of the Mount Clemens
Public Library Local History Collection.)
The Baths of Arethusa
The Arethusa Bath House, located at 30 S. Gratiot Avenue, was built
in 1911. It was the last operating bath house in Mount Clemens and was
completely destroyed by an arson fire on May 25, 1976. I personally watched the
fire. As fires go, it was magnificent. Pretty amazing how a fire can basically
start in every room of a building simultaneously. Just saying.
Back in the days before laptops, net books, IPads, and IPhones people used to
sit out on the front porch and flirt with the young girls. You had to have a
nice front porch.
This photo kind of changes my knowledge of Mount Clemens trivia. Note the Medea
hotel across the street. At some point an ugly siding was placed over the
original facade. This photo may show the beginning of the installation of the
new siding. Note the appearance of the first floor on the lower left hand side
of the hotel. This photo has a date of 1970. The date appears to be correct by
the autos that appear in the photo. I had thought that this renovation occurred
in the early 1960's. Photos don't lie.
The three photos above are postcards.
Here are a couple of postcards that I have.
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The postcards below were emailed to me by Mount Clemens
history buff Hank Miller.
Go to pages 66 and 67 for a few paragraphs describing the Arethusa Hotel.
From the article above, I do not know which of the other hotels would make up the four hotels that catered exclusively to a Jewish clientele.
Guessing this 1975 photo was taken shortly before it burned
down.
My father took the photo above. The comments were added by Hank Miller.
Check out this 2000 article from the Detroit News.
To all viewers of these pages: Please feel free to send me any photos you may have of Old Mount Clemens. I would love to share them with the internet world.
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