Did you now that swimming pools date back to over 5,000 years ago? I know I didn’t. The earliest public water tank was called “The Great Bath” in Mohenjo-daro.
The Romans & Greeks then used pools as a standard of luxury during the 6th through 8th Centuries.
The very 1st In-ground pool in the U.S. was built around 1910 in Texas, it was known as “Deep Eddy”. In the 1920’s it was a popular resort and is still maintained by the city of Austin.
The 1st above-ground pool in the world was located in Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Racquet Club in 1907.
It wasn’t until after WWII that pools became mainstream as a status symbol, this was partly to do with Hollywood Movies. Today there are more than 10,000,000 pools in the United States.
Here are a few fun facts about pools:
- 2500 BC: Egyptian hieroglyphics depicting swimming.
- 1800s: Acrobatic diving is developed in Germany and Sweden.
- In 1975, President Gerald Ford had a pool built outdoors at the White House. In 1976, a pool house was added with a secret passage (similar to the movie White House Down) that allowed the 1st Family access to the pool without stepping foot outdoors.
- Benjamin Franklin invented the “Swim Fin”
- White Star Line’s “Adriatic” was the very first Ocean Liner to go to sea with a swimming pool.
- An Olympic size pool depending on the actual size may hold as much as 850,000 gallons of water.
- Florida is the only state with laws on whom can teach swimming lessons. Life Guards & Instructors must be by law Certified.
- The “Bikini” was named after a U.S. nuclear testing site in the South Pacific called “Bikini Atoll”.
- 65% of Americans do not know how to swim.
- 2008: American Michael Phelps becomes the world’s most decorated Olympic swimming with a career total of 14 gold medals.
Now I know that none of the above information will assist you in caring for your own pool, but you never know when you may be called on for a spot on Jeopardy.
