Austin's Own Deep Eddy Pool

Austin’s Deep Eddy pool is my favorite public swimming pool. It’s a great place to cool off from the Texas heat. People of all ages enjoy this pool. It has lots of green space, perfect for working on my tan. My sons love the pool’s beach-like shallow end, and my husband takes advantage of the separate lap pool area. The pool is fed with clear, cold water from a hand-dug 35-foot well. Water temperature varies between 68 to 72°F. Deep Eddy is the oldest pool in Texas. In 2003, it was listed as a historic landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. The pool actually started out as just a swimming hole in the Colorado River. Cold springs rose from the river banks and people swan in the river where a large boulder formed an eddy. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering “what’s an eddy?” An eddy is the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle (in this case, a bolder). Hence, the name Deep Eddy. Although I love the pool as it is today, I think I would have really loved it when it was a popular resort during 1915 - 1935. During this time, the pool was the Deep Eddy Bathing Beach. The resort had cabins and camping grounds. One of the pools attractions was Lorena’s Diving Horse. A ramp led to a 50 foot tall diving platform over the pool’s deep end where a horse and rider would dive (seems unbelievable to me, but that’s what the history books say). Another attractions included zip line that ran across the pool, a tall slide, and a Ferris wheel. The City of Austin purchased the pool in 1935. Shortly after the purchase, a massive flood destroyed much of the pool’s improvements. The Works Progress Administration rebuilt the bathhouse and the pool opened as a public park in July 1936. The bathhouse was used as it was originally intended to until the 1960’s when the Austin Nature Center took over the entry pavilion, ancillary room, and women’s dressing rooms. The Austin Nature Center moved out in the 1980s. Most of the original bathhouse was closed to the public for many years. In 2002, The Friends of Deep Eddy (FODE), a non-profit association of swimmers and other parks advocates, began a fund-raising campaign to renovate the bathhouse to its historic condition. First construction on the project began in 2005, as the FODE replaced the dilapidated roof. Final construction and opening of the bathhouse took place last summer, June 2007. During June through August, the pool sponsors Splash Party Movie Nights. Family oriented movies projected onto a large screen poolside. You can watch a movie while you float in the pool. No extra cost for the movie, just regular pool admission applies. This summer check out the new improved Deep Eddy pool and catch a movie while you’re there. The pool is located just south of Lake Austin Blvd on Deep Eddy Lane between Mopac and Exposition at 401 Deep Eddy Ave., Austin, TX 78703.

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