History of American Swimming Pools

Little-Known History About America and Swimming Pools

Things we were never taught in school.

It’s been a long time since I took American History in high school but over the years, I have come to understand just how much history was omitted from my classes. As I have gotten older, I have made a conscious decision to delve deeper into the forgotten past. Specifically, the role swimming pools took in helping the Founding Fathers get things going.

George Washington.

Young George’s family moved around a lot, but his longest stay was at Ferry Farm in Virginia. It is there when in 1741, his father, Augustine (who told people to call him Gus) decided the family needed a swimming pool. So, he contracted a company to do just that and within a month, the family had their pool, a 16 x 32-foot vinyl liner pool with steel walls.

One day, Gus Washington noticed something odd about the pool. He called young George over to question him about it. “Son, the pool water’s pH is extremely low. Have you by any chance peed in it?”

Nine-year-old George looked his father directly in his eyes and, summoning all his courage, replied “I cannot tell a lie. Yes father, I did.”

Gus appreciated the lad’s honesty but had to discipline him so he withheld his swimming privileges for a week and forbade him from using the diving board for an additional week. George thought the punishment was too severe and retaliated by chopping down his father’s favorite cherry tree.

Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson was born in 1743, so he never met George until later years. The story goes that they met when Thomas was just twelve years old and was at a summer camp at Lake Albemarle where George was now a councilor. Situated in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, George regaled the younger lads with stories of hiking and camping. The youngsters listened intently but little Tommy, as his buddies called him, was most interested in hearing about the Washington family pool. But there was one thing that he questioned: “What do you do when cold weather arrives?”

“We close it for the season. If someone could invent a pool heater, it could stay open later but so far, no-go. As it is, we have a spring-like cover that anchors to the stamped concrete pool deck and it keeps everyone safe and debris out of the pool.”

Jefferson wasn’t sold on the idea of shutting down the pool and decided when he was grown and was President of a new country that was yet to be born, he would have some sort of indoor pool where he could use it all winter long. He never achieved his dream but did get a hot tub that he used year-round.

Ben Franklin.

Far to the north in Boston, Ben Franklin had taken it upon himself to solve the biggest dilemma about pools and hot tubs: No circuited electricity. No, it wasn’t a power outage. It simply hadn’t been invented yet, so he decided to try to invent it. Without it, pool filtration was nonexistent and early pool owners relied on having helpers hand-skim the pool daily. Chlorine had been, and it was shocking how well it killed bacteria and kept algae at bay. So much so that pool retailers that were springing up along the Atlantic seaboard started calling it ‘shock.’

The Jefferson hot tub relied on servants heating buckets of hot water over wood stoves and outdoor fires, then pouring it into the tub. Hot tubs had no jets. He had to rely on those servants to splash the water around madly. He summoned them to the tub via the East Gate, where they then circled the square tub and frantically stirred the water as Franklin had not yet invented controlled electricity. So much for privacy with the lady of the house! Thomas frequently called his friend to see how his attempt at discovering wired electricity was going. The answer was always the same: “Close.” That’s when Jefferson is said to have invented the phrase, “Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” Of course, his closest friends were mystified as hand grenades didn’t exist and weren’t invented for another 150 years. Anyway, it was reported that he slammed the tin-can phone down and severed the string that connected him with Franklin, muttering something about ‘Red-socks wearing Northerner”!

Alexander Hamilton.

He was simply too frugal to justify spending his money on swimming pools and hot tubs, claiming they would never catch on. Plus, he was busy co-authoring the Federalist Papers with James Madison and John Jay. More importantly, he was writing a play about his life story. But he had some bad luck when Aaron Burr shot him dead in a duel.

In summary.

Why were these stories of daring do never taught in school? I can only surmise that they were shushed by boat and golf equipment manufacturers in hopes of killing competing recreational leisure products. It didn’t work.