BOISE, Idaho — KTVB is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2023.
Just a few weeks before we opened our doors, the City of Boise opened two municipal pools: Lowell and South.
Prior to that, the city had just one pool to serve its 35,000 residents, the Natatorium, located off Warm Springs Road.
For 20 years, citizens and civic organizations campaigned for another city-owned and operated pool.
“There was a push by the administration at the time to pass a bond in the city to be able to update the natatorium and then build two new pools,” Boise Parks and Recreation Director Doug Holloway said.
In 1952, Boise voters went to the polls. On the ballot, should the city spend $200,000 to modernize the Natatorium and build two new public swimming pools?
The voters said yes and the funding was put into place.
Construction began almost immediately on South and Lowell pools by 'Jordan and Sons,' a Boise company.
Their names correspond to the schools they sit next to: Lowell Elementary and South Junior High.
The city selected engineer Wesley Bintz to design the pool.
"He had a unique design of an above-ground pool that was fairly popular at the time,” Holloway said.
The 'Bintz' design was chosen because they are believed to have a smaller footprint than traditional pools.
"Similar to architecture today, you build a two-story building, you need less land mass to go up as opposed to going out, so the concept was very similar in the 50s and 60s when it came to pool design," Holloway said. "You didn’t need as large of a footprint to do an above-ground versus an inground [pool]."
The facilities are also unique. The bathrooms, locker rooms and check-in desk are located beneath the pool deck.
The pools have identical entrances and feature art deco design elements.
“The actual outside art deco piece to this where it says ‘Municipal Pool,' it’s very unique," Holloway said. "We’ve seen that same kind of design has been used in other Bintz designs across the country."
Lowell Municipal Pool opened to the public on June 20, 1953.
The city says it reached capacity the first afternoon it opened and eventually had to institute swimming shifts to make sure everyone was able to get in.
South Municipal Pool opened on June 30, 1953.
In 2020, the City of Boise closed all of its six pools due to the pandemic.
Four have since reopened, but South and Lowell remain closed for a number of reasons.
“They have numerous plumbing and electrical code issues that we’ll have to bring up to speed and of course, ADA requirements really are top of mind, because we want all of our facilities and all of our programs in parks and recreation to be accessible to everybody," Holloway said.
The city conducted an outreach study in the spring of 2022. Holloway said most users are interested in bringing both pools back up to code and keeping their historic roots.
However, according to a cost analysis done in 2021, it would cost $2,400,000 per pool to do so. That cost has likely gone up with inflation.
Holloway said right now, there is no funding in place to bring the pools up to code or to even build a new pool.
"Rather than make those decisions now, the city council has elected to wait until that funding becomes available and then they will recharge those discussions with the public," Holloway said. "Obviously, these are 70 years old, that have a nostalgic attachment to these pools. They grew up swimming here, their children did, and their grandchildren did. So, there’s really a unique perspective that a number of our users have."
To learn more about the planning process to get both pools back open, check out the City of Boise's website.
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