It may seem unusual for a neighborhood pool to win a statewide preservation award – until you hear what it means to the community, and how successful they've been at keeping and improving it.
"With my grandson there this year, this is [our] fifth generation to swim there," says Tom Herrman, vice president of Friends of Dormont Pool, Inc. "I swam there as a child. My father swam there in the late twenties when it still had a mud bottom."
Herrman's group formed in 2006 when the borough considered closing their large swimming facility – built in 1920 – because it needed extensive repairs.
Now the Friends will be recognized by Preservation Pennsylvania with an award for their grassroots preservation effort on Sept. 17 in Harrisburg.
Preservation Pennsylvania recognizes things that have played a significant part in the past and that people work to keep viable," Herrman explains. Since beginning their door-to-door campaign, his group has helped pay for the pool's major structural repairs, such as decking on the bathhouse and recreation hall, and sandblasting and coating the pool's bottom. The group raised and donated $50,000 to Dormont in 2009. Now they plan to raise funds for pool enhancements, such as a new slide and an ADA-compliant bathroom at the shallow end of the pool.
"It's a gem that we have that we didn't want to lose," Herrman says. "Once pools like this are gone, they're gone. People aren't going to build pools like this again."
Author: Marty Levine
Source: Tom Herrman, Friends of Dormont Pool, Inc.
Image courtesy of Friends of Dormont Pool, Inc.