Elmira residents are urging city officials to fund the restoration of the only public pool in the city. The Brand Park pool has been closed to the public for decades.
The pool is an architectural relic located on Elmira’s Southside. It is dilapidated with boarded up entrances and covered in graffiti.
The Brand Park Memorial Pool was originally built in 1937. It was destroyed by a flood in 1946 and rebuilt. The pool has been non-functional and fully closed for 19 years.
The designer of the pool was Wesley Blintz of Lansing, Michigan. Blintz designed a similar pool in Broome County, which met a similar fate as Brand Park Memorial Pool. The Charles F. Johnson Pool in Johnson City was built 1927 and demolished in 1983 due to financial concerns for the repair and upkeep of the pool.
Johnson’s company, the Endicott Johnson shoe factory, built and maintained the pool. When the shoe company’s business declined, it donated the pool to the village to help with the costs of its maintenance.
“The village didn’t have the means to maintain it and it developed a significant crack,” said village of Johnson City mayor, Martin Meaney. “There was a lot of banter back and forth about fixing it, repairing it or razing it. And while that was going on, a group of residents tried to get it on the National Historic [Registry] and before that could happen it was taken down.”
Jim Hassell, who helped form the Committee to Save Brand Park Pool, wants Elmira to restore the pool for the community.
“We have very little for our older-young people, teenagers and young adults, to do here,” said Hassel. “We have almost no basketball courts or anything, and this is what they want. This is what they need. The nice thing about a pool is that it serves everybody.“
The city missed the deadline to submit an application for the first round of a state capital grant program called NY SWIMS. The program offers grants of up to $10 million for municipal swimming facility projects in underserved communities.
Elmira City Councilmember Gary Brinn is in favor of having a pool, but not the current structure, due to its irreparable condition and the costs to preserve it, plus any maintenance fees.
“I am happy to work with anyone about the things they are passionate about. But the money just isn't there for the city even to maintain it after a grant [would] run out,” said Brinn. “So we just need more information. We need less antagonism and more cooperation and partnership on all sides in this conversation.“
The fate of the structure is not clear.
Earlier this year, Elmira Mayor Daniel Mandell said the city agreed to demolish the pool a couple of years ago. However, it has to wait for an independent engineering study and then approval for demolition from the state Historic Preservation Office.
“I did not know about the vote to demolish the pool,” said Rachel Dworkin, archivist for the Chemung County Historical Society. “I’m not surprised, given the state of it and the accessibility issues, but that is sad.”
In an email to WSKG, the state Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation said it: ”does not currently have a role in reviewing the demolition of the pool, but would be available to advise the city on steps to preserve or reuse [its] historic feature.”
Mayor Mandell explained that a splash pad has already been purchased to install once the pool is gone.
Councilmember Corey Cooke said he does not support the splash pad option.
“I'm listening to the people, and I know splash pads are not what they want,” said Cooke. “So as an advocate, I have to keep pushing that line and just say, listen, this is what I know that the people want, let's give it to them. We were not going to make everybody happy, but everybody will be alright if we just give them a pool back.“
Fifth District Councilmember Jackie Wilson, whose district includes Brand Park, declined to comment for this story.
WSKG did not hear back from city manager Mike Collins in time for this report.