Weymouth Swimming Pool near Chandler Field
Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:23 am
Only the real old Fresnans will remember this one, but the Weymouth Swimming Pool (owned by my grandfather) on Whitesbridge road was built and opened in 1934. It closed in 1961 when I was 4 years old. It was located right at the west end of the Chandler field airport, about where the SPCA is located and highway 180 ends. The family house is still standing and the Pest control business by the same name still operates out of a building on the property. At the time it opened, swimming pools in homes were rare. It had a high dive platform that was 31 feet tall, about the same height as Blakley's out on Tulare and Clovis Ave.
There are lots of pictures of the pool floating around, pictures from WWII with the cars in the parking lot. The Fresno Bee used to run the photos and they are in the Pop Laval books "As Pop Saw It". My Mom had a job there in the 40's and for 25 cents, you got a towel, a hot dog and a bag of fritos. The business men and lawyers from downtown would come for a swim and lunch then go back to work. My grandmother would wash all the towels each night!
It was open at a time before chlorination in pool water was used so three times a week, the pool was drained, hand scrubbed clean, and filled again over night. This guaranteed that the water was always freezing cold! The 250,000 gallons of water was used to irrigate nearby fields and a grove of eucalyptus trees that are are still standing today. It closed when I was 4 and I was one of the first in my family that had to go to Airways for swimming lessons; how embarrassing for a Weymouth kid to need swimming lessons!
There are lots of pictures of the pool floating around, pictures from WWII with the cars in the parking lot. The Fresno Bee used to run the photos and they are in the Pop Laval books "As Pop Saw It". My Mom had a job there in the 40's and for 25 cents, you got a towel, a hot dog and a bag of fritos. The business men and lawyers from downtown would come for a swim and lunch then go back to work. My grandmother would wash all the towels each night!
It was open at a time before chlorination in pool water was used so three times a week, the pool was drained, hand scrubbed clean, and filled again over night. This guaranteed that the water was always freezing cold! The 250,000 gallons of water was used to irrigate nearby fields and a grove of eucalyptus trees that are are still standing today. It closed when I was 4 and I was one of the first in my family that had to go to Airways for swimming lessons; how embarrassing for a Weymouth kid to need swimming lessons!