Ward 6 Pool

 Recently, I covered the Wards 4 and 2 open-air swimming pools built in the 1920s. The third pool built in that decade, another replacement for the old bathhouses, was the Ward 6 Pool.

The Ward 6 pool was built in 1925 at the southeast corner of High and the unused portion of Norfolk Street. The pool was built as a replacement for the Ward 6 bathhouse, which was at the corner of Commercial and Sargeant Street. The property on which the pool sat was purchased by the city from the Holyoke Water Power Co. in 1917 to extend the city yard.

P. J. Kennedy & Co. Inc. was the low bidder for the project. The pool was opened to the public on July 9, 1925. As with its contemporaries in Wards 2 and 4, this pool was heavily used during its approximately 10-week period in the summer months.

The pool held competitions with its sister pools and the Ward 1 bathhouse for racing and water polo. There were also swimming exhibitions attended by many spectators. Those youngsters who had just learned to swim would jump off the diving board and swim the length of the pool to the joy of their family onlookers. There were life-saving demonstrations also.

In 1934, water polo attracted 1,000 viewers. In the late 1940s, late-night break-ins, often involving the cutting of fencing, were a problem.

In 1963, the pool was leaking water, as the foundation was settling. It was announced that the pool was built on an unstable surface, as the location had previously been a dump and landfill. It would cost approximately $125,000 to replace the pool. 

The pool was closed during the summer of 1965 and reopened in 1966 after $12,000 in repairs to the filtration system. However, the pool was pitching and at risk of buckling. There was concern for contaminating subsoil intrusion.

With the state contemplating a highway into the vicinity of the pool, and its poor condition, the pool was closed and condemned in 1974. It was demolished in the late 1970s by the state to accommodate the I-391 highway project.

Citations:

Newspapers.com (paid subscription): Citations: Holyoke (Massachusetts) Transcript & Transcript-Telegram; Springfield (Massachusetts) Republican; publication dates and pages are shown.

Online GoogleMaps

1956 Sanborn Insurance Map

Sanborn Map 1956: Location of Ward 6 Pool {southeast corner of High/Norfolk(unused)}

Google Maps: Approximate Present Day View of Ward 6 Pool site

Viewing in a generally easterly direction @ High/I-391N intersect

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