SEATTLE — It's one of the most scenic public pools in America. But Colman Pool actually started out in 1925 as a hastily constructed swimming hole, filled with saltwater from nearby Puget Sound.
"It was tide-fed, meaning the tides coming in would fill the pool, and the tides going out would drain the pool each day," said Elizabeth Rudrud of the Southwest Seattle Historical Society.
In 1941 the community chose to build something more permanent. The prominent Colman family stepped up to foot the bill.
"They wanted to give back and contribute," Rudrud said.
The pool was instantly popular.
"We have stories of it being so crowded that people could only stand," said Rudrud, "and there was not room for swimming, only standing in the water."
The new design stuck with the old mud hole's saltwater tradition, as did other pools of the day.
"The large, public saltwater pool was not an uncommon site on the Duwamish Peninsula," Rudrud said.
For the first three years, Colman Pool was strictly segregated.
"It was a white-only pool up until that time, and it was through direct action by Black students at U-dub that desegregated this pool in 1944," Rudrud said.
Today, from a lovingly restored original mural to other art deco flourishes, the facilities look much as they did 80 years ago.
"Really speaks to the era that the pool was built," Rudrud said.
It's a 15-minute walk from the nearest parking area but this pool, swimming in history, is well worth the hike.
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