rosemont school pool

The wading pool at Rosemont Elementary School. Photo courtesy of Jerri Locke

Happy Fourth of July, and welcome to the first week of 100-degree temps in Dallas this summer.

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In preparation for our June cover story about neighborhood swimming pools, we asked neighbors to tell us where they swam as kids.

The above photo came from neighbor Jerri Locke, who grew up in Kings Highway and still lives there. As a kid, she and her siblings and cousins walked the few blocks to Rosemont Elementary School, where there was a neighborhood pool.

Here’s an excerpt from the story:

The big municipal pools drew bathers from all over, but Dallas also had neighborhood “wading pools.” There were wading pools at parks adjacent to elementary schools in Oak Cliff, including Winnetka, Reagan, Lida Hooe and Rosemont. Even though they were small and shallower than the big pools, these wading pools were free to use. In 2000, after a child contracted E. Coli swimming in a wading pool in Atlanta, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cracked down on wading pools, unveiling strict rules for operation. While large pools have a filtration system, the city’s wading pools did not, making them a potential breeding ground for bacteria. Unwilling to spend the $4 million needed to upgrade the wading pools to meet new sanitary regulations, the city park officials made plans to close all 26. They faced immediate backlash, especially in Oak Cliff, where city councilwoman Laura Miller made a valiant effort to keep Arcadia Park’s pool open, going as far as to sit in a dunk-tank to raise funds for its continued operation. Despite raising more than $100,000, the wading pool eventually was forced to close.