Cascade Pool and the Old Swimmin' Hole

Now that summer's here, I may not be posting as often.  It's time to hit the water and have fun in the sun at my favorite swimmin' hole. 

Before I get the inner tubes out though, I want to tell you about the Cascade Pool.

From 1929 to 1959 there was a beautiful swimming pool right downtown atop the bluff of the Guadalupe River.  

photo from Kerr County Historical Commission collection

Known as the Cascade Swimming Pool, it opened in 1929 to great fanfare.  The pool was privately owned for the first 5 years.  Then 1934, the Kerrville Amusement Co., which also owned the Arcadia Theatre, decided not to open the pool due to poor patronage the previous years.  I suspect that having a beautiful river that provided plenty of free swimming spots was part of the reason.  This was, after all, the midst of the Great Depression. The city came to the rescue, and took it over as a public pool.  The last season for the Cascade was 1959.  On October 4, 1959, The Kerrville Times reported that the pool would not be available the next summer.  The Chas. Schreiner Bank owned the property and planned  to enlarge its building.  The plans included the pool area.

The Cascade sat in an area approximately where the Bank of America and this area of the parking lot at the foot of Earl Garrett Street are now.