Rivers, streams, ponds were Berlin’s cooling zones before pools

It hasn’t happened in 89 years.

That’s how long it’s been since Kitchener has not had an openair public swimming pool.

Barring a surprising announcement over the next few weeks, that cycle looks to be broken in 2020.

We now know where the “Kitchener Municipal Swimming Pool” was built but what a convoluted path led it there. The story is told in thick newspaper files spanning more than two years — two years when the stock market crashed and the Great Depression put down roots.

Before that account, let’s imagine life in the sweltering summers of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Berlin (Kitchener’s pre-1916 name) was not built on a major watercourse but the Grand River was just a short buggy ride or healthy walk from downtown. Many people had a favourite spot at which to spread out a blanket, enjoy a picnic and paddle in the river while others pitched a tent and spent a few weeks riverside. A few wealthier folks even built summer homes along the river.

In the mid-1800s, water-powered sawmills such as Joseph E. Schneider’s, located near David Street, and the Jacob Shantz sawmill near Borden and Charles had reservoir ponds that attracted swimmers. Youngsters often built makeshift dams along Berlin’s sizeable Schneider Creek. One was near West Avenue and was recalled in several memoirs as

“The Ole Swimmin’ Hole.” More than a few daring skinnydippers headed for the waterworks pond where Lakeside Park is today. When Victoria Park was established in 189596, the resulting lake tempted many an adventuresome swimmer to dive in.

However, the first actual swimming pool opened to the public was privately-operated in the basement of 123-125 King St. W. (Years later, Wolynetz Gown House and The Arcade were located in the building but fire destroyed the structure in 2000. Its site is now the piazza leading to Bobby O’Brien’s.)

T.H. Rieder, the rubber industry business leader, built “The Natatorium,” a 50x20-foot heated pool varying in depth from three to eight feet. For a small fee, swimmers were promised “... a monstrous swimming tank equipped with the latest conveniences of sanitary comfort ... and sterilized water of just the proper temperature.” Upon paying admission in the foyer, guests received a key, towel and soap. After walking down a long arcade, they entered the lockerroom with benches, washbasins, lavatories and secure lockers. Then, just before entering the tank room, each person passed through an automatic shower. As no bathing suits were allowed, separate days were set aside for men and boys or women and girls. The first day, July 21, 1917 was for males only: the last day was sometime in 1921.

That was the same year the city’s first publicly-operated swimming pool opened in Victoria Park. When a new concrete bridge was erected across Schneider Creek at the west end of the park, floodgates were installed to block the water flow. The result was a woodlined, gravel-bottomed pool. Two years later, an appalled Kitchener Board of Health took one look at the accumulated sediment and ordered the pool shut. No wonder! Not far upstream were farmers’ fields with cattle, a small abattoir and the work yards of the Public Utilities Commission.

Meanwhile another option had appeared. In the YMCA’s new 1922 building at Queen North and Weber Street, the tiled, indoor pool was a major feature. Although the pool was in a men-only building, and was primarily for YMCA members, one evening a week was made available to YWCA members. Some public swimming hours were also scheduled.

That’s a brief overview of how swimmers up to a century or so ago satisfied their cooling off cravings. In the next column, Flash from the Past focuses on the late 1920s public movement to give Kitchener a state-of-theart swimming pool ... and how politics got its clumsy feet in the way.

rych mills is a lifelong resident of Kitchener-Waterloo whose interest in the Twin Cities’ past has appeared in two local history books and numerous articles for the Waterloo Historical Society annual volume for which he is currently editor. Email: rychmills@golden.net

RYCH MILLS COLLECTION From 1921-1923, the summer scene at Kitchener's Victoria Park revolved around the popular swimming pool. Located beside the park’s animal pens (left), a sturdy concrete bridge doubled as a floodgate (centre). A Valentine & Sons postcard was issued shortly after the pool opened.

ESTATE OF MIRIAM SNYDER SOKVITNE For several summers around 1920, brothers Albert and Joseph Snyder and their families lived in tents along the Grand River downstream from Bridgeport. The two men hopped on the nearby electric street railway each morning to go to work while the others enjoyed life on the river — especially when grandfather David Schneider paid a call in his horse and surrey.

COURTESY OF HAROLD RUSSELL During the final year of the Victoria Park pool, one boy dives in while two pals admire his style. Later, he probably graduated to the diving tower (right background). These were brave boys, dodging the scum and slimy sediment that soon caused the health board to shut down Kitchener's first city-operated pool.