Black Background & Cultural Perspectives:
- Author recalls lifeguarding at Ashworth, Birdland, SouthTown, Teachout, and Northwest; mostly subbed at Good Park.
- Photo series reveals history of segregated pools; Black children appear predominantly at Good Park, Asian and Latinx communities largely absent.
- Segregation persists de facto: wealthier white families retain access while poorer neighborhoods face reduced pool services after cuts.
- Good Park closed in late 1990s, likely due to budget cuts. Municipal reductions disproportionately harm marginalized communities.
On September 6, the Des Moines Register published a series of historic images of the city’s pools. The piece was in feedback to upcoming community budget cuts as a result of Iowa’s brand-new real estate tax regulations. The impacts of the cuts are ravaging: job cuts, lowered emergency services, lowered library hours, and cuts to parks and entertainment. Which brings us to pool.
Maturing in Des Moines, I was a swimming pool rat.I instructed swimming lessons. I swam competitively. When I was 14, I obtained my lifeguard accreditation. There were no full time places for me that summer, yet I accepted a setting as a replacement lifeguard, and ended up getting to work at every swimming pool in the city: Ashworth, Birdland, SouthTown, Teachout, and Northwest. My initial year of lifeguarding, I mostly subbed at Good Park. At the time the pool was complimentary, and saw almost solely by Black children.The community had a track record for being a bit rough, the swimming pool was little, but I enjoyed lifeguarding at Excellent Park. The kids were a lot fun, and I adored the mostly Black team of lifeguards there. There weren’t jerks shooting beebees at lifeguards– that happened once when I subbed at Ashworth, where the woods supplied outstanding cover for instigators. I was giddy to travel down memory lane and Travel back in time with these throwback Iowa swimming pool snapshots
I clicked the web link. I scrolled. And scrolled. And scrolled some extra. Something seemed off, however I couldn’t place my finger on it. Something was missing out on. A person were missing out on. I proceeded scrolling until I hit the 21 st image in the collection and lastly saw some glossy, happy Black faces appreciating Excellent Park Pool.
The history is the history. The photos are the photos. And I understood that this photo collection was also documenting the history of segregated swimming pools in Des Moines.
While set apart pool are no more legal, they are, regrettably, the defacto standard in several cities, consisting of Des Moines. It was rough to see white families enjoy an incredible selection of swimming facilities throughout the city while Black households had one area (Excellent Park), and Oriental and Latinx individuals are completly missing out on from this background. Good Park Pool was deactivated in the late 1990 s. I do not remember the information, it was probably because of spending plan cuts.
While everyone will certainly be influenced by municipal cuts across the state, the injury won’t be spread just as throughout the community. Wealthier citizens will still have accessibility to swimming pools and other services, while access for poorer areas will certainly remain to be minimized. This is not nostalgic. This is not proceed.
Des Moines Register Data Photo: “The brand-new Excellent Park pool, closed a lot of the previous week while workers fixed leaks, was reopened to swimmers Saturday, July 11, 1936 Shown are Ella Sanders, left; Adelyne Wilson, facility, and Annabelle Payne among the very early swimmers.”
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