History: Tempe creates a splash

Contributed by Jay Mark, a Tempe resident and local historian.

Every year about this time, even the hardiest of desert dwellers begins questioning the sanity of living - or maybe more precisely, existing - in this place we call the Valley of the (never-ending) Sun. So it may be appropriate to discuss something cooling and refreshing - such as swimming.

The Point of Rocks swimming hole at the northeast corner of Hayden Butte once provided a year-round pool of fresh water that offered welcome relief in the summertime - especially in the days before air-conditioning or evaporative cooling.

By 1920, after unsuccessful attempts at improving access and amenities at Point of Rocks, attention turned to a man-made solution.

In 1921, Congressman Carl Hayden, son of Tempe's first Anglo settler, Charles Trumbull Hayden, committed to donating much of the family's orchard north of the La Casa Vieja for a public park - if the community would step up and build it.

The Tempe Civic Club, which became the Tempe Chamber of Commerce in 1930, took up the challenge. It formed the Tempe Beach Committee to find a way to construct a park - and more importantly a swimming pool.

The strategy? Get community pride to pay for it. The committee headed by local mortician E.P. Carr included such Tempe stalwarts as Garfield Goodwin, Alva B. Clark and physician Reginald James Henry Stroud.

Their idea was to sell shares in the venture. After campaigning, prodding and cajoling, the committee raised enough money to begin construction.

Stroud, who had a longstanding interest in athletics, staunchly argued for building a pool unlike any in the Valley or the West. He insisted that the pool meet the standards for Amateur Athletic Association competitions.

Alva Clark, who became industrial education director at the Tempe State Teachers College, is credited with situating the pool.

Hundreds turned out for the grand opening of Tempe Beach, as the pool was called, on a blistering hot July day in 1923.

At long last Tempe had a safer alternative to swimming in the river - and a more accessible swimming environment than the popular Point of Rocks.

It was soon discovered that the new 175-foot pool was pulling in people from all over the Valley. It was an instant success.

With a population of fewer than 2,000, Tempe was proving itself to be a popular Valley recreational center.

In addition to an Olympic-size pool, there were 1- and 3-meter springboards for diving competitions. For the very brave, a head-spinning 30-foot wooden diving tower provided as much high-diving excitement as Point of Rocks.

Margaret Vance Mills recalled in a 1995 interview, "I was about 6 or 7 years old and I would spend my time learning to swim at the old Tempe Beach pool. I recall being brave enough to jump from the top tower of the old three wooden diving platforms."

Constructed before pumps and filters, the gigantic pool's water was kept clean and fresh by draining and refilling as many as four times a week.

Even though the swimming pool so fondly remembered by many longtime Tempe residents is long gone, the city has come full-circle - from a natural swimming hole, to an Olympic-size pool, to a 24.5-acre lake. Each in their time, they've been major attractions.

Jay Mark assists the Tempe Historical Museum with exhibit gallery design and planning for new facilities. Reach him at jaymark@twtdbooks.com.