By SALINA POST
Salina Post proudly presents Flashback Friday in partnership with the Smoky Hill Museum. Enjoy a weekly tidbit of local history from the staff at Salina Post and the Smoky Hill Museum as we present "Salina-Flashback Fridays."
Since the latter 1940s, the Carver Center on North Second Street has been an important part of black history in Salina. The struggle to convince the city to provide recreational facilities for African American Salinans required persistence.
In February 1946, three high school students, Eugene Revels, Virginia Bell Hill, Creola Williams, appealed to the city commission to build a swimming pool for the Black community, saying the nearest pool they could attend was in Manhattan, Kansas.
In April of that year, a committee of six adults also approached the commissioner to discuss the problem of recreational opportunities for the African American community. While a swimming pool was not immediately forthcoming because of "a freeze on construction materials," in 1947, the city attempted to secure the former officers' club at Camp Phillips for a recreation center and finally did move a wooden barracks from the Smoky Hill Air Force Base on to the North second site.
The wood frame building covered with gray and green asbestos shingles served North Salina as a teen study, recreation and club center until 1979, when a new $132,000 facility was completed.
The regular price for admittance was the same as the municipal pool in Oakdale, twenty-five cents for adults and twelve cents for children.
The Salina City Commission decided to close/not re-open the Carver Center pool for the season on May 14, 2001. Demolition of the Carver pool began in August 2001.
Additional Pool Historical Information
Kenwood Municipal pool opened Memorial Day May 30, 1956 and was remodeled in 1980 and closed in 2009. The New Kenwood Cove Aquatic Park opened in 2010. The first pool built in Salina was completed in 1925. The Swimming Pool was built and was used for ice skating in the Winter. According to Salina Parks and Recreation the water had to be replaced weekly because it did not have a chlorination system.