Did you know that from the early 1930's to the early 1950's, Montgomery had a community swimming pool? It had a wooden raft in the middle, a two tier diving board, and a snack bar that sold candy bars and popsicles. In the winters it would freeze over and be used as an ice skating rink.
The Works Progress Administration made the Montgomery pool one of it's projects in 1936. At that time, the newspaper reported that the pool had been "constructed several years ago under a CWA project", so I am unsure when the original pool was built, but 1934 seems to have been when the CWA was building swimming pools in our local area.
In 1937, admission to the pool was 5 cents for spectators, and ten cents for swimmers. For two dollars you could purchase a season pass.
"Everything is in readiness to fill the Montgomery Community Swimming Pool and it will be done just as soon as the muddy water clears up." - The Sun Gazette, 1944
The pool was filled with water from Adams Creek, funneled through a specially created dam. A newspaper from recent years reported that the pool was chlorinated, but a local resident who remembers the pool recalled that it was not filtered, and that when it got too dirty, they would simply empty it and refill it. There would sometimes be tadpoles living in the cracks in the walls.
In 1938, there were three popular ice skating locations in Montgomery: Thomas' Dam, the Montgomery Water Company Dam, and the Montgomery pool.
Unidentified Photo Of Young Men At The Montgomery Pool
A "swimming exhibition" was put on by the YMCA boys, in 1946, under the supervision of Fred Barrett, as part of a series of "Park Day" events to raise money for repairs to the park. Is it possible that the photo above is from that day?
On June 28 1949, there was a tragedy at the pool when six year old Lynn Larry Lovelace wandered away from this mother, while walking near the Montgomery Pool. Mrs. Lois [Hulsizer] Lovelace called for the lifeguard, and ten minutes later the boy was discovered in six feet of water in the pool. Sadly, "Two hours of work by a respirator was unable to revive the lad".
A costly leak in the pools foundation in 1951, along with mandatory improvements ordered by the state health department, lead to the pools closing. Council reported that it cost $1,100 to keep the pool open for 5 weeks in it's final season of operations.
In 1954 an engineer was hired to study the swimming pool and report its findings to council, and the pool was filled in soon after.
Montgomery's Park was formerly part of the Israel Wagner farm. In around 1921, $20,000 was raised by "public subscription" and the park site was purchased from the Wagner estate. Later, the park was expanded through a gift of land from the Henry Smith estate.
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They are some really old pictures of the Montgomery Swimming Pool. Also, it's being replaced by a baseball playground.
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