Dip into Boise's History

COURTESY WARD HOOPER

BY KAREN DAY

In today’s real estate market, this truth will seem stranger than fiction, but in 1952, Boise successfully presented a bond issue for $200,000 to fund the modernization of the Natatorium pool and build two new community swimming pools, one on the Bench and one in the North End. Wesley Bintz, an engineer from Lansing, Michigan, was chosen to build the two above-ground, ovoid-shaped pools. In 2022, there are fewer than 20 remaining Bintz above-ground pools in the U.S., with only eight still in use. Boise’s Bintz pools endure as iconic, Art Deco structures, but now sit emptied of cool water and swimmers, awaiting an unknown fate.

The City of Boise recently completed a public outreach and engagement program to gather community preferences and ideas on the future of the Lowell and South Pools. “The next step is a feasibility study,” says Shawn Wilson, a representative of Boise Public Works on site at the Lowell Pool public viewing. “We haven’t done any design or cost analysis, but the current estimates for remodeling or rebuilding have very low accuracy.”

Whatever their accuracy, the cost estimates posted for each pool were 4 to 6 million dollars. That’s a steep fiscal guess to accommodate the priorities identified by survey respondents, which predominantly focused on accessibility and preservation. Only 14% said that the pools should be torn down and be replaced by modern, in-ground community pools. Clearly, Idaho real estate may be exorbitant, but the majority of locals believe our history isn’t for sale.

For more information on the future of the Lowell and South Pools: https://www.cityofboise.org/ departments/parks-and-recreation/lowell-and-south-poolsplanning-public-outreach-and-engagement.