City’s first swimming pool opened in 1924
When the Linebarger Brothers opened the Bella Vista Summer Resort in 1917, the only place to swim was in Lake Bella Vista. After a few years, the Linebargers decided it would be nice to have an actual swimming pool to offer their visitors. Since they had the Big Spring nearby for a constant water supply, they proceeded to build a pool located across the parking lot from the north end of Lake Bella Vista.
The May 30, 1924, issue of the Bentonville newspaper reported, “The new pool at Bella Vista is complete. It was built at a cost of over $5,000, and five car loads of cement were required in its structure. The pool measures 54 x 210 feet in size, with a depth of water ranging from one to 15 feet.” Since the water from the Big Spring was so cold, the newspaper reported, “The water comes from the spring far up the hill and flows into a basin where it is tempered by the rays of the sun. Then it is allowed to flow into the swimming pool, which is drained and cleaned each day.”
The Linebargers decided to give the pool the name “The Plunge,” and added everything from a tall diving board to a couple of big “toys” for swimmers to use. A document from the Bella Vista Historical Museum files contains a description of the toys. One toy was a “wheel” propelled by the soon-to-be swimmer stepping onto the wheel after climbing the ladder up to the platform. The forward thrust then launched the swimmer into the water. Another toy was a “top” that was made of metal, about 5 or 6 feet in diameter and tapered to a point which was chained at the pool’s bottom. It had a wheel mounted on a shaft with a dead-weight at its other end. Swimmers would pull the wheel (or handle) up, which caused the top to level with the water and rotate under the swimmers’ feet. With a couple of swimmers holding the wheel and running in the same direction, the top would spin very fast under their feet. At some point, because of the slippery surface of the wet top and the speed, someone would fall off and the top would tilt. This would drive the dead weight down to the bottom and all would be thrown off. Everyone said it was great fun!
The Linebargers’ newspaper, Bella Vista Breezes, reported in its June 3, 1927, edition, “Three large drain pipes are located at the lower (north) end of the pool, which empties it in from 15 to 20 minutes. (Editor’s note: The stream from the Big Spring that runs behind the former location of the pool empties into Little Sugar Creek just west of there.) To fill the pool requires about three hours. About 2,000,000 gallons of water are required to fill it, which is done daily. The Plunge, as it is generally called, was constructed to comply with all the state laws in regard to sanitation. One of these laws requires 400 gallons of water to each bather.”
When the Linebargers sold the resort to E.L. Keith in 1952, he upgraded the pool and added a bathhouse alongside it with restrooms and a sandwich bar. He built shuffle boards and a croquet court behind the bathhouse, and a miniature golf course on the other side of the pool.
Cooper Communities bought the resort from Keith in early 1964 and left the pool open until 1990, by which time they had built other swimming pools in Bella Vista and decided to close this one. The VFW had begun to lease the former bathhouse next to the pool, and asked that the big empty hole containing the former pool be filled in to reduce their insurance rates. That was done in 1994, 70 years after the pool was first opened. Ownership of the property that held the former bathhouse was transferred in 1999 from Cooper to the VFW.
With heavy rain at times, the VFW building would get flooded. They cleaned out the building after three floods, but after one last flood, the building was filled with black mold and could not be saved so the VFW gave up on it in 2017. After standing for over 60 years, the building was torn down and the land reverted to Cooper. After trying to find other meeting places, eventually the Bella Vista VFW post disbanded.
That same year, 2017, Cooper Communities transferred the former pool property and the property next to it, where the VFW building had stood, to the Veterans Council of Northwest Arkansas. With the Veterans Wall of Honor right next door, the Council decided to convert that property into a park, which they named Veterans Memorial Park and dedicated on May 4, 2019. They installed concrete walkways and placed several benches along them. It is now a grassy, peaceful scene with a barely visible hump in the middle that was the actual site of the swimming pool.
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Xyta Lucas is co-president of the Bella Vista Historical Society which operates the Historical Museum on Highway 71 (1885 Bella Vista Way) in Bella Vista. Hours are Wednesday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information call 479-855-2335 or visit the website at bellavistamuseum.org.