- State:
- IA
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Swimming Pools
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Started:
- 1935
- Completed:
- 1935
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Unknown
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
A public swimming pool in Adel IA was built by the Works Progress Administration in 1935. One of the earliest municipal pools constructed in Iowa, the facility was around for a good share of historical events – war, environmental disasters, and cultural and economic changes.
“When the pool was completed,” states Allison McNeal of the Dallas County News, “it was quite an attraction to residents including the fact that it had covered restrooms and a bathhouse, uncommon for the era.” The WPA project also provided unemployment relief for area residents.
Over time, the pool faced a lack of upkeep as well as structural deterioration in the form of cracks and crumbling concrete. With these issues lingering, the pool’s steering committee decided to construct a new pool for Adel and surrounding residents. The old pool was closed for good in the summer of 2013.
Source notes
“Sixteen Ultra-Modern Pools for Iowa,” Parks & Recreation. May 1938.
Allison McNeal, “Adel Pool to Stay Open Until Aquatic Center is Completed this Summer,” Dallas County News. June 6, 2013.
https://www.adelnews.com/article/20130606/news/306069886
Site originally submitted by Gray Brechin on March 18, 2022.
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