ROSWELL, Ga. — For about half a century, the Olympic-sized swimming pool at Roswell Area Park has served as a go-to spot for summer fun and finding community.
In October 1974, Roswell officials broke ground, and the following June, the pool was dedicated and opened soon afterward.
Janet Russell, who moved to Roswell from the San Francisco Bay area in 1973, goes to the pool every day when it’s in season, from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, doing exercises, “paddling around” and reading a book.
There, she said she found friendship, running into people she met at the pool around town.
“It’s fun to see young people grow up to be teenagers to be parents who come back to the pool,” Russell said. “I think the nice thing for me, too, is that we have so many people from around the world to come to that pool now.”
She said she hopes the city will put up a map of the world and a sticky dot, marking each time someone visits from elsewhere. During the 1996 Olympics, Russell said Fiji’s swim team practiced at the Roswell Area Park Pool, and Belarus’s gymnastics team trained in the building next door.
She emphasized the pool as an indiscriminate place.
“We’ve seen very fancy cars there, and we see people drive up in a taxi,” she said. “We don’t really care where you came from, because when you take off your clothes and put on your swimming suit, we’re all in the same water together.”
She said Roswell was sparsely populated when the pool opened. The city had a population of about 5,500, according to the “1970 Census of Population” issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“There was no social life, except church and the pool,” Russell said. “When I moved here, we had to vote for liquor by the drink. Let that sink in.”
She said it was one of three Olympic pools in the state.
“For a town of so…
Read the full article here
