We are all familiar with our little slice of paradise on the Gulf Coast. Crystal Beach is an unincorporated community on Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County, Texas. Originally known as Patton, Crystal Beach lies along Texas State Highway 87 in the middle of Bolivar Peninsula. Patton served as a railroad station, and when the railroad ended in the early 1940s, the name of the community became “Crystal Beach.”
But, do you know there are other Crystal Beach communities?
CRYSTAL BEACH, ONTARIO
Crystal Beach is a lakefront community in Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada. It was named for the “crystal clear” water conditions present when it was founded on the northeast shore of Lake Erie, across from Buffalo. The Crystal Beach community has a long history of tourism dating back to the Crystal Beach Amusement Park that was opened in 1888 and operated until 1989. Its roller coasters, dance halls, concert venues and other attractions put this small town on the map.
The Crystal Beach settlement started as a police village with a summer post office in 1898; a year-round post office opened in 1908. The public beach was established in 1926 and was originally called Bay Beach Park. The village was incorporated in 1928, with a population of 298. In 1970, the village was absorbed by Fort Erie, Ontario.
CRYSTAL BEACH, FLORIDA
Crystal Beach is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of Palm Harbor in Pinellas County, Florida. Crystal Beach is one of the original communities in Pinellas County. The first settlers came to the area and began homesteading around 1850. It was initially called the town of Seaside and the Orange Belt Railway was completed in the Spring of 1888 connecting the town of Seaside north to Tarpon Springs and south to Clearwater and St. Petersburg.
A Pinellas County Property map from 1925 identifies the town of Seaside with a Crystal Beach along the shore and a Crystal Beach Avenue leading to its Live Oak Park and Crystal Beach. When the developers started marketing their development after 1925, the community took on its modern name of Crystal Beach and this was solidified when the US Post Office assigned it a zip code 34681. Residents of Crystal Beach do not have home mail delivery; they travel to the post office to send and receive mail. [sounds familiar]
CRYSTAL BEACH (DESTIN, FLORIDA)
Crystal Beach is a scenic beach area in Destin, Florida. Known for its adorable beach cottages in a rainbow of pastels, this portion of Destin is a popular vacation location along Highway 98 in Okaloosa County.
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