summer swimming
Here comes the sun: Deep Eddy Pool re-opens after four month closure
Editor's Note: Deep Eddy is now scheduled to open Saturday, April 7 at 11 a.m.
There is a special sort of giddiness that comes with that first splash of the season into the neighborhood pool. And every year we are reminded by middle-aged cannonball-ing men that it’s one of those blissful childhood feelings that’s so great, no one expects you to grow out of it.
Just in time for a weekend of idyllic weather, Deep Eddy Pool reopens Friday, April 6. Austin's most beloved and iconic public pool has been closed almost four months for construction.
The oldest concrete swimming pool in Texas, Deep Eddy was originally a simple swimming hole in the Colorado river. In 1915 A.J Eilers turned the land into a resort, The Deep Eddy Bathing Beach, building a concrete pool around the swimming hole to serve as the main attraction among what quickly became a carnival ground.
For 5 cents a pop, patrons gained access to a 70-foot water slide, rings and trapezes, a 40-foot diving tower, and even a carousel.
The City of Austin has owned the property since 1935, and while these days admission is a bit steeper and the diving towers are a bit shorter than in the 1920s, Deep Eddy has retained its character and its appeal as Austin’s community watering hole.
Construction efforts, which began at the end of December, focused on maintaining the unique feel and look of the pool while improving the type of issues that come with age, such as water circulation and cracks in the concrete.
Listed as a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places, Deep Eddy serves as both a present-day part of the Austin community, as well as piece of cultural preservation. In October of last year, a community mosaic mural detailing the rich history of the pool was installed around 1000 sq. feet of wall on the northwest side of the pool.
For more information on Deep Eddy, including pool hours and events, click here.