1955

July moved like molasses. After three straight 90-degree days, the forecast for Saturday, July 23, called for a high of just 88 degrees. So to cool off, Clevelanders turned to Edgewater Beach. ¶ That's where photographer Clayton Knipper found Cleveland police officer Jim Kennedy lecturing a young beachgoer from atop his horse. Reminiscent of a Norman Rockwell cover of The Saturday Evening Post, The Cleveland Press photograph was captioned "Hot tot gets chill warning." ¶ "You're no jaybird," Kennedy told 2 1/2-year-old David Brzowski according to the Press, with perhaps a hint of apocrypha. "You're not allowed to run around the beach nude." ¶ The Glenville youngster put on a pair of trunks rather than argue whether "silly adult laws make sense," the Press reported. ¶ The adult rules for Edgewater, in fact, made very little sense. As Brzowski streaked around the park, he could not have known that a yearlong fight over Edgewater's future was about to be resolved. ¶ In 1954, Army Brig. Gen. Louis T. Heath unveiled a proposal to take over 31 acres of the park for a Nike missile launch site. Yet Mayor Anthony J. Celebrezze opposed, arguing it would disrupt planned park improvements, including five additional baseball diamonds. ¶ A year and a civic scuffle later, Heath was reassigned to Panama and the missile site moved to Burke Lakefront Airport.