Construction of the Ambridge Borough Pool in Borough Park (now called Walter Panek Park) began in 1939, the year after Ambridge children from the First St. neighborhood built their own "Dead-End Pool" in polluted Big Sewickley Creek. When health authorities closed and drained the Dead-End Pool, the children marched to the Borough Council, demanding a public pool. I was surprised to learn while I was researching the Dead-End Pool, that the Council agreed that Ambridge needed a public pool, and voted to put a bond proposal to construct a pool on the November 1938 election ballot. The voters approved the bond measure.
But although pool construction began in 1939, completion was long delayed; the pool wasn't opened for swimming until Memorial Day 1942.
Recently, Winifred Graham Boser donated a set of snapshots to Ambridge's Laughlin Memorial Library, showing the early construction of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool. Both of her grandfathers, Peter A. Conrad and Walter A. Graham, worked on the pool construction project. And during my last visit to Ambridge, I was lucky enough to be able to scan the photos to share them with you.
Any ideas about what the first photo below is showing? Construction work, of course. But is this work on the old road that once wound through Borough Park? Or the road leading from the Borough Park road into the site of the eventual pool?
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| "Boro Park, West Rd." ? May 11, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Early Ambridge Borough Pool construction "Boro Park" May 11, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Fill was added during early construction of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool May 11, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Early construction "Boro Park Pool" May 11, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| "Pool cut" Early construction of Ambridge Borough Pool May 11, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| "First Concrete" Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool June 24, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Work on the walls of the main pool Ambridge Borough Park 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Walls of the main pool being built Ambridge Borough Pool 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Work on main pool Ambridge Borough Park 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Uncovering concrete on main pool bottom? Borough employee Peter A. Conrad on right 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Main pool closer to completion Walter A. Graham in forefront, head man on project 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Digging out ground for diving pool Ambridge Borough Park July 24, 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| More work on diving pool Ambridge Borough Park 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Working on diving pool Ambridge Borough Park 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
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| Construction of diving pool Ambridge Borough Park 1939 Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
The playground pool--Ambridge's first public pool
While doing research on the construction of Ambridge's first Jr. High School on Duss Ave. (later, after an annex was built, the Jr. - Sr. High School), I was really surprised to find out that a public pool once stood on the school's property in the 1920s.
I'm not talking about the pool in the Jr. High building, but rather an outdoor pool, run by a group called the Ambridge Playground Association, spearheaded by the Ambridge Rotary Club.
The first playground the group built was at the Duss Ave. site in the early 1920s, perhaps 1923. In 1925, the group added playgrounds at First and Fourth Ward Schools. When I was growing up, the playground at the Jr. - Sr. High School was between the northern end of the building and the Bollinger Co. office building. The playground was later moved to the south side of the building when the school's tennis courts/skating rink were built in the 1960s.
The Jr. High playground featured a swimming pool during the summer months. Since it was operated as part of the summer playground program, I think it was probably only open to children, but I haven't yet found confirmation of that.
I don't have a photo or a good description of the pool, but I assume was above ground and fairly large--75 swimmers at a time were allowed in it. And it was deep enough that parents were urged to insist that children who couldn't swim stay in the shallow end of the pool.
Two showers were provided so that swimmers could shower before they entered the pool.
In the summer of 1925, that pool's water pump needed repairs, and its opening was delayed until June 22, when the Citizen announced that the pool would open that afternoon. Two days later, the paper reported that the June 23 crowd was a record, with 300 swimmers enjoying the pool.
But confusingly, the same newspaper reported on July 20 that the swimming pool on the Jr. High School grounds had "not yet been opened." The reason was the "sewer is clogged and repairs not yet made." It further reported that the school board had decided not to open the playground pool that year, because a new sewer was required, and since the new school was under construction, it would be better to wait and connect both the playground pool and school to the sewer system at the same time. Did the Citizen mean re-opened? I'm still looking for the answer.
When the Jr. High athletic field was being planned in 1926, the construction of a fence that would include the playground and its swimming pool was discussed.
As of now, I don't know the last year the playground swimming pool was open.
Later, the Playground Assn. added two more playgrounds, one near Second Ward School, and the other at the then-new Anthony Wayne Elementary School. I don't know yet who was responsible for the construction of the playground near Liberty School.
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