In honour of the opening of Warfield Centennial Pool on July 2, this week’s Trail Blazers heads back nearly 100 years to the opening of the Jubilee Pool, situated on Victoria Street in what is now the Trail Memorial Centre parking lot.
Funded and managed by Trail Legion Branch #11, the Jubilee Pool was built in 1928 between the Legion’s Memorial Hall (where Lordco now stands) and a nurses’ residence (long gone). Across the street was the Trail-Tadanac Hospital, the property where A&W is located today.
Built four years before the pool, the Legion Memorial Hall was a hub for recreation enthusiasts of all ages, featuring a bowling alley, a gymnasium with staffed gymnastics programs, basketball, and eventually the public library, cubs, and scouts.
Construction of a pool aligned greatly with the Legion’s program of supporting recreation and healthy activity. As well, no other swimming facility existed in Trail back then.
Legion directors published their request for tenders in late April 1928 for the proposed 90-foot by 35-foot pool, measuring eight feet at its deepest, and 2.5 feet at its shallowest.
Designed by William “Bill” Dunbar, a CM&S civil engineer, warm water from the smelter’s lead furnace cooling jackets would circulate throughout the pool, deemed “fresh and healthful.”
Local contracting firm Moncrief and Vistaunet was awarded the $8,000 contract (about $144,000 today) on May 17, 1928. True to Trail tradition, the Legion crowd-sourced funds to cover construction costs.
Generous contributions were made by the Jubilee Dominion Day Sports Committee (hence the name) and many social and service clubs to which most men and women belonged or supported.
The firm promised a July 1 opening, however, a delay in pool tile delivery held off the official opening by two weeks.
One swim session would cost a child only a nickel.
The Legion operated this popular, well-loved (and much chlorinated) facility for many years, until turning it over to the city in the late 1950s.
After construction of the larger C.H. Wright Pool in 1961, the Jubilee Pool was deemed redundant and eventually removed.
Wright pool, located in East Trail on the grounds of today’s aquatic centre, was constructed under the umbrella of the Trail Recreation Projects Society.
Have you any memories of the Jubilee Pool?
Be sure to get out and enjoy your community’s swimming facilities this summer season!
