- City:
- Pawnee, OK
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Marinas and Aquatic Parks, Lakes and Ponds, Bathhouses
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1939
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Pawnee bathhouse was built by the WPA in 1939:
“The Pawnee Bath House, a WPA (Work Projects Administration) project built of hand-cut native stone with terraced stairway and landscaping, including a three acre lake for swimming, was originally intended to not only bring needed jobs for the area, but to also provide recreation for Pawnee and the surrounding communities. The project was an immediate success with the Grand Opening featuring a water carnival and dignitary visitation to include the Governor of Oklahoma along with the US WPA project coordinator. The bath house and swimming hole was a popular spot for nearly 40 years.”
The bathhouse closed down in the late 1970s and was neglected for many years, but has since been restored and the naturally fed pool reopened.
Source notes
https://www.cityofpawnee.com/storage/Pawnee20Bathhouse.pdf
The History Exchange: http://thehistoryexchange.com/index.php/wpa-in-oklahoma/pawnee-county-wpa/pawnee-bathhouse-pawnee/
Site originally submitted by The Living New Deal on March 20, 2015.
Additional contributions by Barbara Pendleton.
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Lynda Johnston Vance
I spent many an hour at the Pawnee Swimming Pool And loved the Bathhouse. I was so disappointed when it closed due to resistance to interrgration. A sad statement of the times in the ’60’s.
The Bathhouse was refurbished, the grounds landscaped and the pool refilled in the early part of this century. Regrettably the depth of the pool filled in during the long years it was unused and diving no longer allowed, before the pool was closed there was a dock with a low diving board, a high dive and a floating dock where diving off the dock was also allowed. It would be nice if the depth was increased to make the swimming and diving accessible.