In February of 2023, the Centralia City Council voted to permanently close the Veterans Memorial Pearl Street Pool after it had been shuttered since 2011. Last June, the pool was filled with dirt to address safety concerns due to the pool’s state of disrepair.
Centralia community members had banded together to create the STOP (Save The Outdoor Pool) group in an effort to reopen the pool but were unsuccessful despite years of fundraising multiple proposed reopening plans. Ultimately, rising costs in repairs needed to the pool itself, along with rising maintenance and staffing costs, led the Centralia City Council to permanently close it.
Now, the City is moving forward with plans to convert the space into the Veterans Memorial Community Park by developing a park master plan. During its Jan. 23 meeting, the Centralia City Council unanimously approved a motion to advance creating the master plan.
This plan will outline designs, costs, financial sources, possible partnerships, a maintenance plan and a timeline, including the pool and pool house’s demolition and redevelopment into a park, according to Centralia Deputy City Manager and Parks Director Amy Buckler.
Buckler added the Centralia Parks Advisory Board developed this idea after meeting with The American Legion Grant Hodge Post 17 and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 2200, along with hosting open houses and listening sessions with local students, people with disabilities and the local Hispanic community.
“We were lucky enough to work with some elementary school teachers who asked their classes to write letters to the (Parks Advisory) Board,” Buckler said. “... I just need to tell you that many of the letters from the elementary school kids asked us for a kids’ zip-line.”
While the pool and pool house are slated for demolition, the splash pad and plaza installed on the north end of the pool’s property in 2017 will remain.
Once the demolition is complete, some proposed ideas for the south end of the pool’s property include:
• An outdoor basketball court area with multiple half courts and at least one lower basketball hoop for younger children, and a handball wall
• Seating areas and a potential roof over the basketball court area
• Modern playground equipment with educational elements focusing on science, technology, engineering, environment, arts and math for children of all ages and sizes
• A small community building to be rented out, approximately 40 feet by 40 feet in size
• Incorporating Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant features throughout the park
• Additional parking including ADA compliant spots
• Placing a walking path around the edge of the park and including potted trees or other landscape features
• Possibly adding another bathroom
• Climbing features like a rock wall, along with a kids zip-line
• Storyboard signs in English and Spanish, with photos and text sharing the history of the Veterans Memorial Pearl Street Pool, including why it was originally built
Constructed in the 1950s as a memorial after World War II, Buckler explained the pool had more of a purpose than just serving as a war memorial.
“There was a purpose in mind to teach kids how to swim because so many soldiers drowned on D-Day,” Buckler said. “From there, the pool itself created a lot of community memories. It was an important veterans memorial, but it’s also a place where people came together.”
While there was some debate on whether “veterans memorial” should be kept in the new park’s name, both Grant Hodge Post 17 Commander Robert Clark and VFW Post 2200 Commander Roger Towers met with their posts and submitted a joint letter to the City that advocated for retaining the moniker.
“Changing the name would be another black eye to our veterans and to the community,” Clark and Towers said in the letter.
The name Veterans Memorial Community Park had support amongst the council as well.
“I’m very on-board with keeping it a ‘veterans memorial.’ That is paramount in my mind as a veteran myself,” Centralia City Councilor Chris Brewer said.
Brewer also said the city should also consider increasing the park’s accessibility to people walking and riding their bikes.
“It’s tough to park there. We have a major state highway corridor right there,” Brewer added.
He also wanted thought given to the Hub City Bike Shop, which currently operates out of the pool house that is slated for demolition.
“I don’t know if we can do anything, but I would like some consideration given to see what we can do for them to possibly find a new home somewhere because they are filling a really big critical community need right now,” Brewer said.
Many in Centralia who rely on bikes for transportation utilize Hub City Bike Shop to help them with repairs and maintenance because, with Centralia Cycle Works now closed, there are no other bicycle repair shops in the city.
All of the U.S. military flags that were raised over the splash pad in 2017 will also remain, Buckler stated. Additionally, a consultant could be hired to help develop the park master plan, but Buckler hopes to develop the master plan in-house with city staff to save money.
The Veterans Memorial Pearl Street Pool was owned and operated by the city until the early 1980s when it was first closed.
In 1984, it reopened due to the efforts of Friends in Need, a local nonprofit that operated the pool until 2008, when the city resumed ownership. Then, in 2011, it closed the pool again due to rising maintenance and staffing costs.
Between 2011 and 2022, the STOP group raised more than $100,000 and received several grants to pay for the pool’s restoration and reopening, but their efforts weren’t enough to match the ever-increasing costs required to either renovate the existing amenity or build a new one.
The grant funds were eventually lost as the City of Centralia could not match the amounts to keep them.
In late 2022, a ballot initiative that would have allowed voters to decide the pool’s ultimate fate was considered, but with budgetary concerns looming, the Centralia City Council instead voted to permanently close the facility in February of 2023.
The pool is located on the southwest corner of the intersection at West Hanson and North Pearl streets in downtown Centralia.
