Blue Dell Pool

September 9, 2022

When summer days become scorching hot, many families flock to their local swimming pools to keep cool. When I was a kid, our favorite pool was the Blue Dell Pool in North Huntingdon. The pool was built in 1929 and it was close to the size of a football field at 300 feet long and 100 feet wide. It held 1.5 million gallons of water and was owned by the Warren family.

In addition to the impressive pool, the Warrens owned a diner and a drive-in both adjacent to the pool. There were swing sets, and a baby pool had been added for the little kids behind the large swimming pool.

The pool had substantial locker rooms for men and women, along with a cafeteria. The cafeteria offered your typical fast-food items with red lamps to keep the food hot. First, you unfolded your cardboard box to hold your items, then you picked what you wanted to eat, and then slid your box along a metal rail until you got to the cashier. I fondly remember enjoying their triangle slices of pizza.

My brother Paul who is five years younger than me and who would have been in grade school at the time remembers the food from the cafeteria. “Cheeseburgers and hot dogs wrapped in thin silver paper, fries in a cup!” he said. He also remembered the tall blue turnstile that you had to pass through to exit the pool.

“I also remember the lifeguards having me sit down because I was jumping down the slides”, he laughed. Blue Dell is also where he caught his first glimpse of a woman’s breast as a young boy. We both laughed when he recalled this.

Neighbors and friends that I grew up with also went to Blue Dell Pool. It was only a 14-minute drive there from my childhood home. The pool was located off of Route 30, three miles east of McKeesport. It was exciting to be dropped off when we got older. Driven down the long gravel covered road, then handed some cash for admission and food. The freedom to enjoy a long day of swimming and eating without adult supervision. No one there to judge me for staring at the cute boys diving off the diving board.

The appearance of the pool has slightly changed over the years. When my family started going there in the 80s there was a large center island in the middle. People would wade out to the center with their towels to sunbathe. If you wanted one of those coveted spots, you had to watch and wait for someone to leave. There were slides on both sides, and one diving board in the deep end. I can still hear Rod Stewart’s hit Love Touch blasting through the sound system that surrounded the pool.

My parents had an inflatable raft shaped like a banana that was bigger than me. We had it for many years, and I loved that giant yellow monstrosity. We often took it with us to the pool along with our beloved and worn beach towels. I was always excited to bring the yellow banana raft because no one else had one like it, and most pools would not allow rafts.

One summer I summoned the courage to jump off the diving board, just like the older kids. Of course, I jumped and held my nose, but I did it! Shortly after this accomplishment, I advanced to doing cartwheels off the diving board, and then quickly reached up at the end of my cartwheel to hold my nose before plunging into the water. I was a good swimmer, yet I despised getting water up my nose because it burned like hell and then the water went down your throat. Immediately followed by violent coughing and everyone staring at you.

We frequently took my friends with us. One day my friend Kathy and her sister Margaret were with us. Margaret couldn’t swim, so I was trying to teach her. By all appearances I honestly thought she was swimming, she was moving her arms and legs the way that I had shown her. Mere seconds later when she regained her balance, she said that she was in fact drowning. I was pretty young so how did I know? It looked like swimming to me. Her head was above the water. At least her sister Kathy still credits me for teaching her how to swim.

The only bad memory I have of Blue Dell Pool was in its final days. The water was no longer clear and it had become the shade of a stagnant pond. You could no longer see the bottom in the deep end. Not many people were going there anymore. My gift for continuing to go swimming there was a painful double ear infection.

I was heartbroken when the pool closed. Where was I and the other Mon Valley residents going to swim now? The splash park in McKeesport and Elizabeth weren’t even thought of yet. Sandcastle opened in 1989, but it was and is today too expensive for many families. White Oak has a pool, but it is also expensive. Their daily pass is $15 per person.

The only thing left of Blue Dell Pool is Blue Dell Lane which is now occupied by your average middle class homes. The drive-in theater was demolished, now Vangura Surfacing Products is there. The pool closed in 1989, and sometime in the 90s, it was filled in.

Change is hard, yet inevitable. Losing a unique place like this is distressing. It’s a place where I felt young and carefree and had the freedom to get away from my troubles. It was a place where you enjoyed hanging out with friends and family, I hoped one day to take my own child.

I never thought it would close, but it did.

– Jennifer McCalla