Summertime

I can't think of summertime without thinking of swimming, and I can't think about swimming without remembering the first swimming pool I ever went to, Turner's in Belleville, Ill.  I remember the dressing room at Turner's, smelling strongly of chlorine, jam packed with mothers and their children, the mothers trying to squeeze their daughters into those unforgiving cottom swimsuits, and the daughters squirming with anticipation.  (As I recall, it was even more difficult to remove the swimsuits when wet.  It was a process that required the utmost patience and skill, with the suit acting like a chinese handcuff, squeezing your body harder the more you tugged to remove it.) Inside the dressing room was a cacaphony of conversations punctuated by the sounds coming in from outside - the slap of a diving board, the splashing of water, the chorus of children's shouts and laughter. I was never happy about the floor at Turner's.  It was wet and littered with bobby pins, used band-aids, and sopping lumps of toilet paper.  I cringed at having to walk across it barefoot (even as a young child, I was very fastidious about certain things).  But that was a small price to pay for the sheer pleasure of what awaited beyond that gauntlet. There was nothing about the pool I didn't like.  Just being in the water was heaven to me, even when I got splashed by the big kids and got a nose full of pool water. 

Here I am at Turner's Pool in one of those cotton swimsuits we loved so well.

Today the building that was Turner's is on the Top 10 list of endangered historic structures in the State of Illinois.  The two links below state that the structure was built in 1923, and that the name "Turner's" was actually an anglicized version of "Turnverein", a German gym and social center that at one time was one of the largest of its kind in the country. The building was designed by an associate of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and is architecturally significant for its Art Deco style.  I have absolutely no recollection of the building displayed in any of the pictures; I believe the outdoor pool was behind the main structure and on a lower level. The memories that I do have, however, are some of the fondest memories of my early childhood. They speak to me of summertime and endless days and happiness.     

http://bellevilleartsandculture.org/turner-hall-project/turner-histor/
http://preservationresearch.com/2011/04/belleville-turner-hall-makes-illinois-statewide-endangered-list/