History

On the hottest day in 20 years, Edmonton welcomes the opening of a magnificent swimming pool in a south side park before a big crowd of supporters and well-wishers. It was Wednesday evening on August 3, 1922. Such was the beginning of Edmonton’s first outdoor public swimming pool – a social and recreational landmark.

Edmonton as one of the few Canadian cities to possess swimming facilities at that time, and the first outdoor swimming pool in Western Canada. It led to city engineers continually being besieged by inquiries from all over North America regarding details of construction and methods of financing. The City financed the pool construction at a cost of $ 18,647.50, or about 19 cents per square foot. The new facility included four cottage style buildings with dressing rooms, cubicles, lockers, showers and lavatories, along with the pool superintendent’s house. Don Crockett - a current board member - was Superintendent Crockett’s son and he remembers well growing up in the house at pool side.

One side of the pool deck was occupied by bleachers for spectators who wished to watch the action. Prices for costume rental was 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for juveniles with towel rentals being 5 cents. Single admission were 25 cents for adults and 15 cents for juveniles 15 and under.

The first municipal swimming pool was designed with public enjoyment, health, and safety in mind – particularly for children. You could say that this is still the goal of outdoor swimming pools. The pool remained a popular venue for youth, families and recreational swimmers, satisfying many thousands of users until 2004 when the pool tank was damaged beyond repair after 82 years of service.

Edmonton’s City Engineer A.W. Haddow, remarked on the situation in 1927 correspondence.

These pools have become a very important part of Edmonton’s summer recreation facilities and as a result the standard of swimming and diving which has been developed among the younger people is remarkable and in addition to this, the benefits of health and contentment in my opinion, far outweigh any small deficit. The construction of these Pools are undertaken primarily because the Saskatchewan River is unsuitable for bathing use and many lives have been lost in past years. This condition has been corrected by the Pools.

Originally the pool was called the Riverside Swimming Pool until 1939, when renamed the Queen Elizabeth Pool to commemorate the 1939 Royal Visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. After the Second World War, the pool was extensively rebuilt in a modern design style in 1951. The 1951 pool was reconstructed on top of the pre-existing 1922 tank and a gas chlorination system was added to the technical room. It remained part of the design of the old pool closed in 2004.

Noise and laughter is the same in all languages. Fun for all. Long distance swimmer-in-training oft found arms and legs entwined with their own. A season’s summer well spent?
A life guard sat atop a high trestle midway out front his keen eye scanning the waters. Beginners stuck to the two foot shallow end. They were interesting to watch as they dipped their toes truing out the water. Brrrr. Courage develops and they slide in, coming up shivering and shaking, blowing bubbles and wiping their faces. Wheeeee? Not so bad after all.

Some divers did graceful acrobatic twisting before plunging into the water, others diver in with arms overhead making many a ripple and came up across the pool as a duck would be, surfacing to get breath .

Dora E. Lloyd (an Edmonton senior)

During the 1980s the City of Edmonton contracted with Calido Recreation, a private firm in Edmonton, to operate Queen Elizabeth Pool. Calido’s management and pool staff did a commendable job for many years in spite of the deterioration of the physical plant. Harold Weissenborn was a founding members of the Friends of Queen E. Pool Society and strong supporter of redevelopment of the pool.

Once the Friends of Queen E. Pool Society was formed the executive focused on deterioration of the old pool and began to lobby for redevelopment of the city-owned pool. Advocacy was kept up over the span of two decades. Following incorporation of the society, the executive invested energy in liaising with the City’s Community Services Department and created awareness of the need to redevelop the old pool, and the pool was then already under a “do not resuscitate” directive from City Council in case of a major breakdown. Further, the City had not updated its Outdoor Aquatic Strategy.

Following a period of dormancy of the society in the 1990s, John Logan, active Bonnie Doon community member re-energized advocacy for redevelopment of the pool in the late 1990s. He was joined by a core of supporters including several original members of the Friends of Queen E Pool Society. Logan recruited assistance from Edmonton Architect David Faling. Faling deserves credit for developing, on a pro bono basis, a detailed concept design in 2000 for a new pool on the original site. The cost was then estimated at circa $ 2.4 million based on 2000 construction figures. An open house staged at the Strathcona Community Hall in the winter of 2000 attracted many interested parties and the concept of re-developing the pool with added amenities received strong support.

The Friends of Queen E. Pool Society updated its registration status under the Societies Act and the executive began to conduct meetings and re-developed a liaison with Community Services. Meetings were held in people’s homes and for an extended period at the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues (EFCL) office building. Former executive director of the EFCL, Ms. Bernice Neufeld, assisted in obtaining formal support from the EFCL’s board of directors for redevelopment of the pool. The federation recognized that outdoor pools served the public interest.

The society offered the City of Edmonton to assist with fundraising providing the administration aimed at redeveloping the pool. For a long time tangible results were not forthcoming, but the executive and society members never gave up hope, and public support never ceased. The society acted in a citizen advocacy role and at times the relationship with the administration was politely collaborative, at times even adversarial. Throughout, however, the society maintained rapport with City Councillors, especially those representing nearby wards.

By 2004, during Mayor Steve Mandel’s first term as mayor, the society’s executive appeared before City Council with a cast of supporters and made a strong case for redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth Pool. The initial response was positive, so the society continued its liaison with the administration and councillors to achieve the objective. 2004, thus, was a benchmark year but a lot of work and ongoing advocacy awaited. Media and public support was maintained in favour of redevelopment of one of Edmonton’s historic landmark.

By 2007, City Council approved a $4.1 million dollar pool design developed by Architects Burgess Bredo in 2006. Two fixed price tenders or RFPs came in with both bids coming in over budget somewhere between $7-8 million dollars. The city turned down both bids. Early in 2007 Western Recreation of Winnipeg revived contact with the society and offered to build a pool in collaboration with Goldwing Construction for circa $ 4-5 million, but the administration decided not to pursue the offer without approval from City Council.

At the society’s 2007 AGM at Strathcona Community League’s hall, Mr. Gene Zwozdesky, MLA for Edmonton Millcreek, presented the Friends with a $ 160,000 grant from the Province towards redevelopment of the pool. It was the second such grant received from the province. The Friends set a goal of raising one million towards the project. With $ 450,000 committed towards the project (including support from the province, Strathcona Community League and the Strathcona Playgrounds Redevelopment Society), the million dollar goal was seen as achievable.

On a beautiful sunny day, July 20, 2009, the Queen Elizabeth Pool re-development project received a cool $ 1 million from the Government of Canada. The cheque was presented by Minister of Labour, the Hon. Rona Ambrose, to John Stobbe, President of the Friends of Queen E. Pool Society and councillor for the City of Edmonton, Jane Batty. Batty commended the team effort by the community and society members for persistence over the past 17 years.” Batty noted “John [Stobbe] made it happen. He was passionate about the project and dogged in his determination to have a new pool. He brought young people to City Council to tell us how much they wanted a pool; he brought a contractor who showed us a design that could be managed within a tight budget.

City Council had already committed $ 5.1 million, but without the infusion of federal dollars the pool would have lacked amenities Edmontonians said they wanted. “Now you will have a legacy project all will enjoy for years to come,” Ambrose said.

In September of 2009 the Official groundbreaking took place, and construction began on a new pool. The first new outdoor pool to be built in Edmonton in over 45 years. Construction slowed down in the fall to be started up again in spring of 2010. Construction re-started in spring of 2010 and work progressed most of the time according to plans, but weather conditions caused delays. City officials oversaw construction while the society liaised with the administration. Construction proceeded during the winter of 2010/11 with completion being anticipated by early summer of 2011.

The project also had support from the local MP, the Honourable Linda Duncan, and on August 29, 2010 MP Laurie Hawn - with a Queen E Pool towel slung around his neck - held a press conference on redevelopment of Queen Elizabeth outdoor pool. Hawn reflected that “he is looking forward to the outdoor pool being filled with swimmers by this time next summer.” Although construction was progressing the new pool could not open until 2011. John Stobbe stated “It’s always frustrating, because you always want it to sooner ... but guess what? It takes time.”

Susan Bard, Shauna Robinson, Susan Ekholm, MaryEllen Vickers, PearlAnn Reichwein, and Harold Weissenborn were founding members The following society members served as presidents. Susan Bard, Baldwin Reichwein, Susan Ekholm, and Jim Tymo. Aside from incumbent directors, the following formerly served as directors on the board, i.e. Harold Weissenborn, PearlAnn Reichwein, Karen Blanchet, Darrell Yaremko, and Cameron Foreman. Many executive members were supported at various functions and planning exercises by their respective family members.

P.S. Special thanks to Dr. PearlAnn Reichwein and Kerry Long for historical background material published in the Strathcona Plaindealer and to Dr. Jan Olson for her 2010 power point presentation about the history of Queen Elizabeth Pool.