Duke Park / Duke Park Pool And Bathhouse

CR Wood was a former director of DPR. I have the history of the department on hard copy if your interested.

I remember going to that park with my teen-aged siblings a couple of times in the late 60s when I was very young. I don't remember if there was anything tangible to back her fears, but when my mother found out we were going there she threw a fit and forbid it. She said the area was "dangerous" and "bad". I've no idea why she thought that, but she seemed to be under the impression that it was not a safe neighborhood at that time. Of course most of us who lived in the county felt anything downtown (or close to it) was not "safe."

My sister told me that a child once was decapitated when s/he fell from the old hand-push go-round (I don't know the proper name for it). Again, I was too young at the time to know if that is true or not.

Wow, some very cool photos. Thanks so much for sharing!

Having resided in Duke Park for a while, I've long had a theory that a deposit of "Pink Kryptonite" was buried somewhere near the Markham/Glendale intersection. After having reviewed your photos, perhaps the Kryptonite was actually closer to the park proper, and unearthed sometime before 1949? Perhaps the earlier coal mining exposed it. ;)

Gary, I regularly read and appreciate the info in your blog -- and I'm a structural engineer. I hope I speak for everyone in the profession when I say that protecting the public is the first thing I am sworn to do. Not the contractor or owner or preservationist, the Public. If I am called to render an opinion on a pooly maintained or unsafe structure, my opinion cannot be influenced by historical significance, politics, budget, etc.
That said, I wish you well in your efforts. I hope the business needs of the community will align with the need to restore and maintain these old buildings.

Anon

I was probably too harsh. Since engineers are trained to be risk-averse, for the reason you mention, I haven't ever found that, when the city or a demolition-minded developer brings in a structural engineer, the opinion ends up supporting (npi) the ongoing integrity of the structure. You can argue that the engineer's opinion is a calculus, unbiased by the things you mention. I don't quite believe that, and I think that the language in the conclusions tends to shade one way or another. But that's my opinion, and I'll concede the point, as I don't wish to impugn the reputations of all structural engineers. Instead I'll just say that the structural engineer's opinion is usually used to justify a pre-ordained conclusion when demolition is intended, and is treated as the only truly relevant assessment of the structure's value, rather than one facet.

GK

Great post Gary, thanks.

Seeing those pictures of outdoor pools was fantastic. (Even on a cold winter day.)

Living in the Southeast, outdoor pools are in much demand to "beat the heat" for 5 months of the year. It is a shame the outdoor public pool is not something that city parks and rec supports.

Indoor aquatic centers can be used 12 months of the year, and I'm sure are advantageous for the athletic swimmers of the community, but for the kids and adults who just want to have some fun in the sun, the indoor pools don't offer much.

Seems unlikely to happen but I'd prefer to see any new pools the city builds to be outdoor ones.

Until then I guess we have to be content sneaking into the private pools of certain neighborhoods and complexes. (and of course the Eno has some nice spots).

Gary - thanks so much for this. Sorry i wasn't able to comment earlier, been in DC for the inauguration.

Just so everyone's clear, we (meaning both Duke Park Neighborhood Association and Duke Park Preservation Initiative) have had a number of folks evaluate the bathhouse for potential renovations. Nobody has thrown up a red flag saying the building is beyond saving. It's clearly a worthwhile project, especially since our latest estimate from parks and rec to demolish the building and replace it with a minimalist cinder block bathroom structure is in the $200K vicinity. It probably wouldn't cost much more than that to renovate the structure, and since DPPI is a 501(c)3 corp, it's able to receive both tax deductible cash donations and in-kind donations to complete the project.

When the Beaver Lodge first approached Mr Bain, the Duke Park caretaker, about the first Beaver Queen Pageant he shared many stories about festive pool events. One I enjoyed hearing told of a cable that was rigged across the pool, a UFO type structure was attached to it carrying a "beauty queen" who was then dropped into the pool. Wish you could find a picture of that.

I love the picture you posted of the swimsuit beauties. The current Beaver Queen Pageant is billed as Beaver Drag for the Entire Family. Contestants are judged on the quality of their tails and their Wetland Ready Wear. Drag pageants seem quite the tradition in Duke Park.

Save the Date---June 6, 2009. This year's theme will honor the spirit and anniversary of Woodstock--WoodStick

Peace, Love, Beaver

I recall visiting Duke Park on occasion a youngster in the late 1960's to early 1970's for church picnics and family outings. I remember lots of hardwood trees with acorns everywhere, and the most extensive facilities of any park we'd visit in Durham, including a large picnic shelter and lots of playground equipment, featuring a really cool long sliding board.

I also remember standing at the edge of the hill on which Duke Park rests and overlooking the interstate with its steady stream of passing cars, and the goings on along Avondale and Roxboro streets beyond the highway, which was a memorable experience. Like the present day, Durham was a heavily wooded area which offered few natural overlooks.

Just beyond the interstate on Avondale, one could see the Big Boy restaurant with its statue of Bob out front. I found the statue to be equally weird and compelling. Come to think of it, I still do.

You're in my neighborhood now. God Bless your soul. You're doing good here, keep it up.

I remember that Big Boy statue getting stolen a lot and ending up just about everywhere in town at one time or another! You could almost start a whole new blog between where the Big Boy ended up and how the Duke statue statue on the main quad has been garbed over the years.

Kids growing up in the 1930s could take Red Cross-sponsored swimming lessons at Duke Park pool. Those of us who didn't have a dime to swim recreationally would 'learn' to swim every summer. The instructors recognized us, but didn't object. If memory serves, lessons were given in the morning before the pool opened to the public.

I hope you will attend the Beaver Queen Pageant. Beaver Lodge Local 1504 returns pageantry and community quirkiness to the old pool site. Who knows what will happen at the pageant--scandal, improv, rain, heat, urban wildlife running amock..? Join us in creating another Durham story.

I'll have a VIB All Access Pass for you and two tickets to the After Party.

Marty Jarrell is handling the VIB area, see her near the judge table if I don't find you.

--
Peace, Love, Beaver,
kaferine de nerve
wwww,beaverlodgelocal1504.org

Seems like the guy 'saving' the girl swimmer was named C. B. Davis. He was a heck of a diver off the one meter spring board and inspired several of us to enjoy the sport.
The polio scar brings back a memory. More strongly, though, is the picture from 1957. Several of us spent almost every day there that summer - sometimes for the morning and afternoon session.
The pageants and clowning around were exciting times to sit with Mom, beyond the fence in the bleachers on a summer night with the cicadas going crazy among the human sounds of commotion.

I spent many a summer day swimming in the Duke Park kiddie pool and the big pool, from the time I was about five years old and lived in old North Durham to the days when I "graduated" to the big pool and we lived on Washington Street at Englewood Avenue. I remember we would rent wire baskets to store our clothes in and would pin the big safety pins to our bathing suits. Pins came with a metal disk with the basket number on them. Still have movie film (now copied to video tape) of my sisters and me in that kiddie pool.
Glenda Wolff, Durham Native

The photo label Duke Park Pool 6-17-57...I believe is dated incorrectly. The happy little boy in the front right corner is my brother "Eric Nicholson" and he was born 7-23-57...so he was probably 10 in that photo and it should have been 1967. I learned to swim in that pool and so did my kids. I was born in 61 and my sons were born in 90 and 92. I had great times at Duke park. Easter Egg Hunts, learning to Swim, kissing my first boyfriend, stolling my babies and have birthday parties at the shelter. I loved that neighborhood and park...going on 5 decades this year.

To those of you who see all of Duke Park as prime park real estate, and see that old bath house as vital Durham history that deserves preservation, I'll offer my opinion as to why Parks & Rec has utterly disregarded it. It's a shame since it's Durham's oldest park, and presumably gave rise to that department in the first place!

First let me describe my perspective, so you know who's opinion you are reading. When I moved to Duke Park 30 years ago, there was already a parade of parents begging for better maintenance, decent bath rooms and new playground equipment. I personally thought that antique playground was the bomb, but changed my mind when my oldest child tried to play on it. So I joined the parade 27 years ago, and have been begging, (fighting, bitching, lobbying... whatever you want to call it) ever since.

Many years ago, I joined the board of Duke Park Preservation Initiative with the expressed purpose of adding to the nonprofit's mission to preserve all of Duke Park, including the bath house. No one objected, and I eventually became vice President, and about 6 years ago, President. The idea behind the lease Barry mentioned, was to attend to the bath house if the city wouldn't, and it required DPPI to renovate and maintain it for 20 years renewable.

The city spent $14,000 on a study to determine their cost of renovation would be an insane $980,000. If that seems impossibly high, note that the city spent ten times that amount building the Walltown community center, and the two buildings are exactly the same 2800 square feet. I've heard that certain city council members don't appreciate that comparison, which I liken to your dog not appreciating you rubbing his nose in the present he left you on the living room rug.

That's not to say Walltown shouldn't have gotten their community center. Both Walltown and Duke Park stood behind each other in requesting both community centers, but no one should applaud the outrageous $9 million cost associated with building that structure.

But back to Duke Park, and why Parks and Rec appears to hate it. They don't hate it, in fact, they like it a lot. But they don't see prime park real estate the way we do, they see an ideal "centralized" distribution point from which to serve the other parks. No one would argue that Parks & Rec doesn't require some space to operate from, but so do the folks who maintain our schools. If the school maintenance crews suddenly and independently, decided to close down a popular elementary school and convert it to their own use, I doubt they'd get approval from either the public or management. Neither would Parks & Rec, so they never bothered to ask.

Perhaps the best illustration of this opinion is found in the parking lot beside the bath house. Note the fence around it and the locked gate. That went up during an unusually long period the park was closed due to a few fallen trees. Without any public discourse, Parks and Rec spent $5,000 of the taxpayer's money to take that public parking lot and convert it to their own use. They clearly see their need for space to store trash cans as more important than the public's need to park.

If a resident decided to change their home from residential use to industrial use, we'd have to go through a rezoning process, and neighbors would likely object like crazy. They'd site the large trucks that would be coming down residential streets, and that the industrial use wouldn't fit in their neighborhood. So Parks & Rec didn't ask, they simply converted the caretaker's historic house to an industrial compound and put up an ugly fence around it.

Now, if you agree with my opinion so far, you might wonder why Duke Park is so poorly maintained if the maintenance crews have made their home base there. You might expect the opposite, that it would be the best maintained park in the city, because the crews are there every morning and night. The unfortunate fact is that any improvements to that section of the park would attract pesky park visitors, and that would put pressure on Parks & Rec to return the use of that stolen parking lot.

If the tennis courts had nets, people would want to play there. If the field where the old pool was located was in better shape, people would want to play on it. God forbid the bath house was an active community center, because even more people would join the tennis players in wanting to park in that parking lot.

If that explains how we got here, let me also explain that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I've been told that some new digs have been secured and Parks & Rec should be out of there in about a year. Perhaps then it would be safe to improve that field and remove the fence and return the parking lot to public use.

DPPI could have sought state grants to cover half of the city's expense in saving the bath house, but that would have required willing partners. Hopefully I've explained why Parks & Rec was anything but a willing partner. Perhaps that will change when they move to a new location.

Lastly, Gary, let me update your blog as to the most recent developments. Due to the attention Duke Park has recently experienced, several things will actually take place - we've been told.

New bathrooms will be constructed to end the oldest complaint about hygiene and kids using the bushes.

New mats will be installed in the toddler play area, even tennis nets may appear soon. Some of the erosion issues should be addressed, new trees planted and the bath house will remain (hopefully) as a future project for a younger parade of parents and advocates.

As one of the original parade participants, I'm pleased that we'll finally have decent bathrooms to service the awesome playground, but disappointed the bath house will remain untouched for now. Meanwhile, we'll still have heavy trucks coming down lovely residential streets like Acadia and Knox, from the industrial compound. Personally I'd favor returning the entire park to the way it operated in the 1940s, with maintenance performed by the care taker who would live in the house just as Mr. Bains does today. So preserving that position of caretaker is as important to me as preserving the buildings.

I'd like to thank you for all the information your blog has supplied over the years, Gary. In most cases you'll never know how helpful it has been, so here's an exception:

A Director with the state's Preservation office was touring the bath house with me a couple years ago. He mentioned finding the photo above that you included mostly to show the original bath house, and noted the six pane windows it once had. If it is ever restored, as so many folks seem to want, it will indeed have six pane windows. Without Endangered Durham, we probably would never have known.

Bill Anderson

Duke Park Preservation Initiative