Jim Bailey: Public swimming not what it used to be

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Jim Bailey

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July 24, 2010

For The Herald Bulletin The Herald Bulletin Sat Jul 24, 2010, 09:04 PM EDT

Summer is a time for swimming. But the venues for getting wet have changed considerably, and there are a variety of reasons.

In my youth I could walk a few blocks and swim in the Athletic Park pool. The huge above-ground facility was built in the Depression era and was the city of Anderson’s primary public pool.

Even then, however, the Athletic pool wasn’t the preferred swimming hole for those who could manage to swim elsewhere. It was derisively called the “city bathtub” by many Anderson kids who preferred to go to nearby places like Alexandria or Pendleton or even Noblesville if they could. Or their parents would shell out for a YMCA membership so they could use the indoor pool downtown (it was, by the way, not the same pool the Y constructed some years later).

By my high school days, quasi-private lake-type facilities cropped up such as Clear Water Park in Grant County (admittedly misnamed) or a similar facility near Chesterfield whose name escapes me now.

Athletic pool was not the only city-operated pool back in the ’50s. Swimming was still racially segregated in those days, and members of the black community went swimming in the smaller West Side pool on 14th Street near the original West Side Community Center, which later became the original Geater Center. As times changed and attitudes moderated, Athletic Park was opened to all races and the West Side pool was closed.

Then another public pool was opened near what was then Madison Heights High School at the Southside Sports Complex. With attendance dwindling at Athletic Park, a water slide was constructed to give the old structure the impression of a waterpark.

Then the state of Indiana constructed a swimming pool at Mounds State Park. Our kids spent many summer hours there.

But attendance at public pools has been dwindling. And the expense of keeping up aging structures, not to mention the cost of providing lifeguards and staff, has put a strain on city budgets. Thus some municipal pools have been closed. Lapel completely dismantled and filled in its swimming pool a few years ago. And Athletic Park was closed a few years back when it was discovered the pool was leaking water about as fast as it was being put in.

A public campaign rescued Alexandria’s pool from oblivion. And with help from Saint John’s, the city of Anderson opened the South Side pool earlier this summer.

Dwindling attendance can be blamed in part on the proliferation of private pools, not to mention the number of backyard pools ranging from hot tub size to something that takes up the whole back yard. There are pools at the Dolphin Club, the Edgewood Golf Club, the Anderson Country Club, the YMCA and Anderson University.

And there seem to be ever more things to keep kids occupied during the summer, from baseball or soccer to computer games.

Jim Bailey’s reflections on Anderson’s past appear on Sunday. His regular column appears on Wednesday. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.

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