Leslie Pool 1960

Remembering the Leslie Pool and celebrating the history of community swimming pools everywhere.

The history of  community swimming pools dates back almost a century. In the 1920s, work weeks shortened to 48 hours (down from the 55 hours a decade earlier) and the economy was roaring. With more time to relax, public swimming became a great way to cool off during hot summers.  Chlorination was also introduced to solve previous sanitation issues and alleviate the high cost of water replacement. Pools began popping up across America until the stock market crash of 1929 and the start of the great depression.  Author Jeff Wiltse offers an interesting perspective about the role of community pools in American society:  Contested Water: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America

The election of FDR in 1932 led to the New Deal in 1933. Federal programs were developed to put America back to work and the construction of over 700 new community pools became part of this bold endeavor. The Leslie Pool in Salem, Oregon was constructed in 1934 next to South Salem High School, near Howard Street Charter School (formerly Leslie Junior High and Middle School). Dr. BF Pound was the primary fundraiser for the project, procuring support from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and other sources. Opening ceremonies on July 25, 1934 included keynote speaker Salem Mayor Douglas McKay. Now empty pool cooled Salem for 55 years

 

Every summer for decades, the Leslie pool thrived as a community hotspot. Kids of all ages and families swam, sun bathed and simply hung out. It’s hard to know the peak era for the pool, but there was a report of over 37,000 visitors in 1955. Friends of mine recall huge crowds in the 1970s. At that time it cost .25 to be assigned a numbered pin that associated with your basket in the pool house. 

 

For a variety of reasons unique to each community, some neighborhood pools simply faded away. The Leslie pool quietly closed for repairs in 1989 and never re-opened:  Salem is: revealing a city through it's stories. Forgotten but not gone: There were debates about funding and refurbishing but clearly nothing happened.  Overgrown weeds and chipped paint are all that remain of the depression era New Deal project that cooled Salem crowds for over fifty summers. 

This painting was intended to bring the Leslie Pool back to life – to capture the spirit of a Salem summer in the “Mad Men” era. 1960 was an election year and an Olympic year. It was the dawn of a new decade, with high hopes and new technologies. It was a year in which youth soon would be called upon by a newly elected President, to be a larger part of society.

I hope you enjoy the frame collaged in period ads – some not so “correct” by today’s standards, but amusing all the same. See if you can remember the top rated TV shows and  most watched movies of 1960.  I also included Oregon’s young governor was just at the start of his prodigious political career.

It is  29.5”x 41” and is mixed medium - acrylic paint, colored pencil, collage technique on a repurposed acrylic storm window procured from an estate sale just blocks from the pool. 

If you’d like to own this painting, it will be available for auction at the Annual Dream Makers at the Vineyard on Saturday, May 27.  This event benefits the Salem Dream Center, a wonderful organization that helps children and families transition out of poverty and become self-sufficient through education, mentorship and food security. For more information, please visit their website: Dream Makers at the Vineyard - May 27th