Record #:

23671

Author(s):

Kammerer, Roger

Abstract:

The municipal swimming pool was the earliest form of recreation offered by Greenville before the formation of the City Recreation Department. The object of the swimming pool was to relieve the situation of drowning deaths in the Tar River, canals and farm holes. The first swimming pool was built in 1913 in the basement of the high school, located on the corner of Fifth and Reade Streets. In 1927, Mrs. J. L. Westbrook advertised that she had completed an artesian well pool and amusement park on her estate at the northeast corner of Charles and Fourteenth Streets. The Westbrook’s went into debt and the pool was offered by the Blount Brothers o the city as a municipal pool. They didn’t accept it and the Blount Brothers opened it in 1919 as the “Greenville Swimming Pool.” On Aug. 8, 1934 the Greenville Swimming Pool was dedicated and opened at Fifth and Reade Streets. In 1951 the pool was condemned and closed. There were other pools in Greenville at the Greenville Country Club, the Moose Lodge, and Elm Street Park.

Source:

Greenville Times / Pitt's Past (NC Microforms), Vol. 28 Issue 3, Feb 3-17 2010, p4

Subject(s):

Greenville--Swimming pools; Municipal swimming pools--Greenville