A secret beach just south of Rainbow Beach would make a perfect dog beach, South Chicago residents say. [DNAinfo/Sam Cholke]
SOUTH CHICAGO — Eleven miles south of Downtown there is a secret beach that is rusting in the sun and surf, and South Chicago residents think it would make the perfect dog beach.
Rocky Ledge, as it is called in the neighborhood, is a strip of lakefront sandwiched between the Chicago South Water Purification Plant, 3300 E. Cheltenham Place, and the old slag piles of the former U.S. Steel site.
The sandy shore that transitions into ochre stones is quiet and secluded across a meadow in Rainbow Beach Park, and Marion Brown and others in South Chicago think that makes it the perfect location for the South Side’s first dog beach
“It’s a cool beach, it’s a great view and it’s great for dogs,” said Brown, president of the Rainbow Beach Park Advisory Council. “But it’s definitely not a white sand beach.”
The beach is about a third of the size of the Montrose dog beach and is largely unused now, except for the neighbors who currently use it as an informal dog beach, according to Brown.
Brown has investigated for two years the potential of making the beach official, which would bring the benefits of formal rules of behavior for dog owners and an expectation to keep the beach clean.
“Dog people tend to do a lot of self-policing at dog parks,” Brown said.
She has filed some of the paperwork already to get the Chicago Park District on board and said neighbors and the developers of the neighboring Lake Side development have all had positive reactions to the proposal.
The biggest impediment now is money.
Brown said it could cost as much as $250,000 to fence off the beach and install paths and ramps, and she’s still not sure how much what cleanup would need to happen.
A portion of the beach is made up of slag from the former U.S. Steel plant and is rusting in the sun and surf.
The southern edge of the beach looks like dirt from a distance, but close up it becomes clear its pitted black slag, the leftovers from smelting operations at the former steel plant. Close to the water, many of the stones that still have high levels of iron and other metals have turned ochre-colored and rusted in the waves.
“There’s lots of reasons it’s not well suited to people and is well suited for dogs,” Brown said.
A spokesman for the Park District did not respond to questions about the beach.
Brown said she is filling out more paperwork now and trying to capture the Park District’s attention on the beach.
The advisory council will host a cleanup day from 10 a.m.-noon June 20 at Rocky Ledge beach. Parking is available along the 3300 block of South Farragut Drive.
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