Courtesy City of Fort Worth
To their credit, the young people assembled that day in June 1922 waited, according to reports, as patiently as they could as they stared past the mayor looking at the big reveal the way a pooch does a biscuit.
“When as the last words of dedication fell from Mayor Cockrell’s lips,” a newspaper report described, “250 boys and girls jumped into the water almost at the same instant.”
The June North Texas temperatures and her typical sunrays mattered not a bit. The Forest Park Swimming Pool was open for business.
It has served Fort Worth well over the course of 100 years.
“It exceeds even my fondest dreams,” Mayor E.R. Cockrell said.
The giant all-concrete pool, designed by city engineer S.D. Lewis, opened on June 16 as a fill-and-drain pool, meaning it did not have a filtration system. The pool water was drained each week and refilled with potable water, according to city records.
The pool had a diameter of 250 feet and ranged in depth from 1 to 9 feet. It was constructed by J. F. Wills, who also donated an 80-foot-tall flagpole planted in the center of the pool. On the east side of the pool was a large two-story wood bathhouse estimated to cost $18,000 and designed by Fort Worth architect Joseph R. Pelich.
She has received needed face-lifts over the years, most recently about 10 years ago when Cockrell’s successors on the City Council authorized $830,000 in repairs that included a new liner, piping, a slide and diving board as well as new concrete decking, six picnic areas and lounge chairs, as well as better access for the disabled. The Radler Foundation pitched in $500,000 to help cover the expense.
And this year, the voters affirmed their support for the continuation of the Forest Park Swimming Pool’s mission by passing a bond program that included $11 million in funding for replacing the pool with another that will feature eight 50-meter lanes, a bathhouse, and leisure pool and play features.
It’s the same sentiment of the people after the pool’s opening in 1922.
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Courtesy City of Fort Worth
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The original swimming hole at Forest Park had been built without a bond issue or increase in the tax rate. Rather, city officials charged for admission, 20 cents for adults and 10 cents for children. (That’s about $3.50 and $1.75 today.)
The pool was open from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. and it was “visited by throngs from early morning until late at night.”
That first month was so successful, the pool operated in the red, according to the parks superintendent.
The denizens’ emotions were reflected in an editorial headline that blared, “Let’s Have More Pools.”
“The announcement [of a profit] is not so interesting in itself because of the fact that a municipal enterprise netted a profit, though that itself is interesting, but as an indication of just how welcome this park addition has proven to the public.”
Considering the pace of business, the editorial continued, “it is no idle guess that the end of the season will find the city almost repaid for the cost of its construction.”
City’s must provide “amusement” for its citizens, “and one of the best preventives of crimes of the lesser sort is good wholesome amusement.”
That’s an argument we’ve heard in recent years as the city debated keeping its swimming holes open.
Happy No. 100, Forest Park pool. You done us good all these years.
