See the photos in a larger view

Go to our Photo Essay blog to see the photos above in a larger format.

What about your photos?

Dorothy Mastin sent us her family's slides to preserve the memory of the event for a wide audience. If you've got historical photos, we'd like to see them, too. Use our online submission form to upload a few (let us know if you've got even more and we'll contact you directly).

Please note: We cannot accept photos except from the copyright holder -- generally, the person who took the pictures. So please do not send in photos scanned from books or copied from other websites, or studio photography.

As one gets older and notices all the "stuff" that has accumulated during the years, I came across Kodak slides of the invasion in Lake Erie in July 1959.

I thought perhaps you might be interested. History is so important, and perhaps it would enlighten your readers about what went on at the beach in 1959.

-- Dorothy Mastin, California

"HALF MILLION WATCH INVASION," shouted the banner headline on the Sunday Plain Dealer, a day after the July 19, 1959, "stunning display" at Edgewater Beach. (The photo gallery here contains color photos from Dorothy Mastin as well as black-and-white shots from our archives.)

The paper's Ronald H. Bailey reported:

The occasion was the year-long celebration of the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Eight ships of the Atlantic Fleet, including the heavy cruiser Macon, came up the seaway and docked in Cleveland. Read more about it in these pages from The Plain Dealer covering the set-up and the invasion itself: