Louisa City Pool Celebrating 50-Years

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — Louisa City Pool invites you to join them in celebrating their 50th anniversary on Aug. 4, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at a cost of $3.

Since the pool was closed for the 2020 season, they are having a make-up celebration to commemorate their 50 plus years anniversary.

The pool came to be in existence Est. 1970, and the celebration will be a special 70’s themed night with a school supply giveaway at the end.

Leading up to the event, the pool posted the history of the Louisa City Pool and pictures of the original newspaper articles that covered the development of the project by using The Big Sandy News database from the Lawrence County Public Library.

The first was a letter to the editor from July 30, 1951, from someone who suggested the city construct a pool. The writer said he had been hoping for a pool for 20 years and they said, little did he know, just 20 years after his letter, the Louisa City Pool would open for its first day of operation.

In 1955, they said they began to see a public push for a city pool. Children and adults were writing to the newspaper to gain support for the project.

On Aug. 16, 1956, the city officially announced plans to build a city swimming pool. The city contributed $5,000 and the county agreed to handle the groundwork and excavation for the project. The remaining funds were expected to be raised with donations from local clubs and organizations. Construction was expected to begin within the few weeks following the announcement with plans to have the project completed by June 1, 1957.

In early 1957, the pool project lacked funding and suffered from construction and legal delays. As summer neared the community realized the pool would not be opening for the summer. Little information was released but Mayor Howard Queen continued to give encouragement and assured the community that there was still hope. The community continued to support the project.

According to the articles published in The Big Sandy News, in May 1957, the Kentucky Power Company, the original owners of the land for the pool gave the go-ahead for the project. A meeting to discuss further financing for the project was set for later that month.

Throughout 1957, fundraising efforts continued. The committee in charge of the project held fundraisers throughout the year to gather the funds needed to bring the pool to life. Children from the community were helping raise funds and awareness of the project. The Big Sandy News kept covering the ongoing story to help funds get donated and keep the community updated.

In 1961, funds began to pour in and the first official sketch of the proposed pool was published in The Big Sandy News. Unfortunately, later that year in November, a referendum to support the bond issue to fund the pool lost by 83 votes. Not much was mentioned again until 1969 when letters and public support for the pool began to be published in the news again.