Public Pools in Delaware County? (Chester, Brookhaven: 2013, high school, to live)

[TimmyTightWad]

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

I remember there was a private pool in YEADON of all places that refused memberships to neighborhood blacks as late as the early 1990s. When changing demographics meant it's business model was unsustainable, the club simply shut itself down.

.

Interesting...and sad.

I live in Havertown and I looked around for local swim clubs....keeping certain races out seems like a priority for some (Can only apply if recommended by a current member, etc).

I go to the Haverford YMCA now.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by TimmyTightWad

Interesting...and sad.

I live in Havertown and I looked around for local swim clubs....keeping certain races out seems like a priority for some (Can only apply if recommended by a current member, etc).

I go to the Haverford YMCA now.

AFAIK, Aronimink (swim club, not country club) isn't race-restricted.

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

Because public pools would be paid for with tax dollars, Delaware county was a republican stronghold for a very long time (still is really, despite voters being slightly more democratic) and republicans tend to frown on taxes?

To an equal extent, you could probably also look back at the creation of white only private swim clubs in white-flight suburbs in the middle of last century as a reaction to public pools in the city that required minorities to be admitted entry. Delco isn't an exception here, many of your private clubs date back to this era.

I remember there was a private pool in YEADON of all places that refused memberships to neighborhood blacks as late as the early 1990s. When changing demographics meant it's business model was unsustainable, the club simply shut itself down.

It's still there, though abandoned.

Interesting about the Yeadon Swim Club. I'm guessing my (Jewish) cousins who lived there in the '50s and '60s wouldn't have been welcome there either. Was it Waspy? Ethnic Catholic?

Searching for the Yeadon Swim Club also led me to the (still-extant) Nile Swim Club, the black counterpart, which seems to have had a far more illustrious and significant history.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

Because public pools would be paid for with tax dollars, Delaware county was a republican stronghold for a very long time (still is really, despite voters being slightly more democratic) and republicans tend to frown on taxes?

To an equal extent, you could probably also look back at the creation of white only private swim clubs in white-flight suburbs in the middle of last century as a reaction to public pools in the city that required minorities to be admitted entry. Delco isn't an exception here, many of your private clubs date back to this era.

I remember there was a private pool in YEADON of all places that refused memberships to neighborhood blacks as late as the early 1990s. When changing demographics meant it's business model was unsustainable, the club simply shut itself down.

It's still there, though abandoned.

That's why the black middle class people who moved, from W. Philly, to Yeadon in the 50's and 60's created their swim club, The Nile. It was very successful for quite a while.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by TimmyTightWad

Interesting...and sad.

I live in Havertown and I looked around for local swim clubs....keeping certain races out seems like a priority for some (Can only apply if recommended by a current member, etc).

I go to the Haverford YMCA now.

Havertown stayed 100% white for decades. So what ever diversity you see there now is recent.

I went to Haverford Twp schools, as did my sister, my mother, aunts and assorted cousins.

Nothing, to this day, would get me to live there.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Havertown stayed 100% white for decades. So what ever diversity you see there now is recent.

I went to Haverford Twp schools, as did my sister, my mother, aunts and assorted cousins.

Nothing, to this day, would get me to live there.

You don't like Haverford?

[Burger Fan]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

AFAIK, Aronimink (swim club, not country club) isn't race-restricted.


Interesting about the Yeadon Swim Club. I'm guessing my (Jewish) cousins who lived there in the '50s and '60s wouldn't have been welcome there either. Was it Waspy? Ethnic Catholic?

I wouldn't know, they never let me in there.

Searching for the Yeadon Swim Club also led me to the (still-extant) Nile Swim Club, the black counterpart, which seems to have had a far more illustrious and significant history.

Yes, the Nile is still there and quite active last I recall. They've had some financial trouble recently but I can't see them going out of business anytime soon.

[cpomp]

Originally Posted by ElijahAstin

AFAIK, Aronimink (swim club, not country club) isn't race-restricted.


Interesting about the Yeadon Swim Club. I'm guessing my (Jewish) cousins who lived there in the '50s and '60s wouldn't have been welcome there either. Was it Waspy? Ethnic Catholic?

Searching for the Yeadon Swim Club also led me to the (still-extant) Nile Swim Club, the black counterpart, which seems to have had a far more illustrious and significant history.

Didn't Aronimink Country Club in Newtown Square have race issues as late as the 80s? That is may be more understandable given the people that go there are rich and waspy and white.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by cpomp

You don't like Haverford?

Havertown, PA (19083) is not Haverford, PA(19041).

Only a portion of Haverford is in Haveford Twp, while all Havertown is in Haverford Twp.

Haverford has had a small population of black people living in it for over a century.

Havertown had no black people living in it until recently.

I grew up in Haverford, as did my mother(who arrived there as a baby in 1916) her sisters and two of my cousins.

What do I think about Haverford? It bored me mostly once I became an adult. Still does. I'm a city person through and through.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Burger Fan

I wouldn't know, they never let me in there.



Yes, the Nile is still there and quite active last I recall. They've had some financial trouble recently but I can't see them going out of business anytime soon.

Well, that's great to hear! Tbh, I had not kept up with its current situation.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by cpomp

Didn't Aronimink Country Club in Newtown Square have race issues as late as the 80s? That is may be more understandable given the people that go there are rich and waspy and white.

The country club is probably still judenrein, though they surely have a token racial minority or two in order to host PGA tournaments. I played the golf course once and wasn't all that impressed. I think nearby (and non-discriminatory) Rolling Green has a much better layout.

As previously stated, Aronimink Swim Club is a totally separate entity.