The pool was immense, measuring 320 by 120 feet. However, Exposition Park was just a few miles from our neighborhood and we could ride our bikes there on the back roads or walk up the tracks to it. This facility had all kinds of attractions for kids and will be the focus of one post later on. It was the extreme opposite of the old swimming hole. When we tired of roughing it in Blackberry creek, we’d go Exposition Park for some good times. kids would forgo the “natural” look of picturesque Blackberry creek and go swimming fully covered in the “world’s largest swimming pool.” Both of these photos show the Exposition Park swimming pool. I did get two prints from the newspaper and herewith note the eventual publishing some 70 years later. I’m sorry to report that the story and photo were not printed. The Beacon-News reporter said we could get a print of the photo after the story appeared. We posed, the cameraman clicked, and there we were recorded for posterity. The way it was explained to us as we splashed in the creek was that the newspaper wanted a feature on something that represented a warm spring day in the Aurora area. It shows Sonny and me posing for a Beacon-News photographer on the bank of Blackberry creek.
The other photo that accompanies this blog has an interesting background. Time changes things but in the Depression era Blackberry creek was part of our playground. Now, I understand, all the area that encompasses Blackberry creek is under intense study and management. You didn’t want anyone to see you naked because,well, we did have some modesty. Quite often there would be a dash to the water when a train would rush by. There we’d peel off our clothes and splash in the warm creek water or let the sun burn our bodies. We’d walk down the railroad tracks to where the railroad bridge crossed over the creek. kids had was to hop on our bikes during a soft summer day and ride down the back roads to the west of us until we came to Blackberry creek. I’m on the left giving the four-finger gang sign and my sister is on the right. An interesting twist to this photo turned up many years later when the boy next to my sister married a good friend of my wife in the St. Here is a typical neighborhood photo of the fashions of the day.
Imagine a bunch of little boys all jumping into the Y pool without swimming suits. Most of us from the neighborhood learned to swim at the downtown YMCA where nakedness ran rampant. Even if you were required to wear one, it sure didn’t need to be expensive. The thing about swimming in the Depression era was that over half the time you didn’t need a swimming suit.