Thursday, June 28, 2012
Talks including DPW and Rec Department could lead way back for Underwood board.
After nearly a week of increasing public fall out from a decision to remove the diving board and halt diving at Belmont's century old Underwood Pool, talks are underway between town departments on the possible return of one of the town's long-standing recreational traditions. Belmont's Health Department Director Stefan Russakow held discussions with Department of Public Works Director Peter Castinino and the town's Recreation Department as of Wednesday, June 27, to begin acting on determining the feasibility of creating a "safer" Underwood Pool that could allow for the return of diving. "I have begun those discussions and that's where we stand," Russakow told Belmont Patch Wednesday, June 27. Russakow's department determined at its annual …
42.397157
-71.17686
Board of Health
19 Moore St, Belmont, MA
/articles/board-compromise-health-depart-list-conditions-for-diving-return
230693
/locations/7340611
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/board-compromise-health-depart-list-conditions-for-diving-return
230794
/locations/7340612
Monday, June 25, 2012
More than 500 "fans" back diving return to century old pool; will be "Outrage of the Day" on WRKO at noon.
Karl Ivester broke his neck diving into shallow water in 1999. "I am not an advocate for diving boards. I have not dove in any water in 13 years," said the long-time Belmont resident in an email interview. But when Ivester read on Belmont Patch Saturday, June 23, that the Belmont Health Department had removed the diving board at the town's Underwood Pool due to safety concerns, he took action. "It was clear that the pool was to be enjoyed by the children of Belmont and it was clear that a diving board was important to the Underwood," he said. But rather than make phone calls, sign a petition or go door-to-door to bring out support for the 100-year-old tradition, Ivester started up his computer and created a Facebook page. Dubbed "Save the …
42.397157
-71.17686
Board of Health
19 Moore St, Belmont, MA
/articles/diving-board-supporters-flock-to-facebook
230693
/locations/7315505
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/diving-board-supporters-flock-to-facebook
230794
/locations/7315506
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Part of the municipal pool since 1912, Health Department cites safety concerns for banning the recreational standard.
There has been a diving board at the center of the Underwood Pool since the facility opened a century ago. Photos throughout the years show young people in all styles of swimwear standing on the dock at the center of the pool where a long board was located. And last year, the center location was again crowded with children and young teens waiting to launch themselves off the end into the humid air to land head or feet first or in some contorted shape into the spring-fed waters. The board has also been an integral part of the "swim test," the long-standing tradition in which youngsters "graduate" to the deep end of the pool by demonstrating they can paddle around the edge of the adult section. The test's final obstacle was to swim to and …
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/after-a-century-underwood-s-diving-board-gets-pulled-in
230794
/locations/7308076
Monday, June 18, 2012
The country's oldest outdoor municipal swimming pool has been enjoyed by Belmont children for a century.
The stillness of the water Sunday afternoon belied the anticipated rush of families and children that will once again be a typical summer day at the town's Underwood Pool on Concord Avenue adjacent the Belmont Public Library. So without ceremony or fanfare, the nation's oldest outdoor community pool turned 100 on Sunday, June 17, in the exact location where it opened a century ago. The Underwood Pool's second century begins today, June 18 with a "pre-season" week and officially opens on June 25 to Sept. 2. You can obtain a season pass at the town's Recreation Department. Less than two months younger than Fenway Park, the sinking of the Titanic was still fresh on residents minds when the pool opened, it was a time when Belmont High School …
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/centennial-pool-party-underwood-pool-turns-100
230794
/locations/7244531
Thursday, February 23, 2012
A look at sites and locations from Belmont's past.
Vintage Belmont will profile a new site in town with some historical significance, a spot that has endured generation after generation, with a short bit of information as well as photographs of the site then and now. It has been a part of Belmont for as long as Fenway Park has been a landmark in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. The Underwood Pool was dedicated on June 17, 1912 as a community swimming area by Henry O. Underwood – who made his fortune with Underwood Deviled Ham – who purchased the land from the Boston Elevated Street Railway (which would become years later the MBTA) to become a place where children could have the same fun he had as a child swimming in local swimming holes. The area was the first public outdoor swimming pool …
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/vintage-belmont-underwood-pool-then-and-now
230794
/locations/6437525
Monday, August 29, 2011
Storm damage, debris force Rec Dept's hand to close early community pool's 99th season.
Talk about a bad guest! Tropical Storm Irene visited Belmont's Underwood Pool Sunday, Aug. 28, and left it in such a mess that the 99-year-old community swimming hole is now closed for the rest of the season which was scheduled to end Wednesday. According to June Howell, Belmont's Recreation Program Supervisor, the oldest community pool in the US suffered damage when a large tree branch fell on the fence surrounding the pool and when limbs and other debris landing into the pool, located on Concord Avenue adjacent to the Belmont Public Library. Howell said while the debris – leaves, branches, limbs, vegetation and other material – can be cleared quickly, the Recreation Department depends on Department of Public Works crews to perform the …
42.394401
-71.170668
Underwood Playground
1 Cottage St, Belmont, MA
/articles/irene-sinks-underwood-pools-season
230794
/locations/5217576
42.397157
-71.17686
Recreation Department
19 Moore St, Belmont, MA
/articles/irene-sinks-underwood-pools-season
230707
/locations/5217577
Saturday, July 2, 2011
State's pool closure order did not affect Belmont's historic municipal pool.
Belmont has always maintained strict safety measures for its historic Underwood Pool “We would not open it if we couldn’t see the bottom of the deep or the shallow ends,” said pool manager Lorraine Benoit on Friday, July 1. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years are we have never been short-staffed for the number of people we have swimming here.” In the wake of the death of 36-year-old Marie Joseph in the water of Veteran’s Memorial Pool in Fall River on Tuesday, June 28, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) closed all 30 of its deep-water pools until an investigation into the swimming death has been completed. The Underwood is a residential pool, run by the town, and not subject to DCR dictates, Benoit said. “We opened …
Troy Riser
4:44 am on Wednesday, June 27, 2012
What is it with this overriding need of government officials, great and small, to exercise a measure of control over every aspect of our lives? It isn't so much the act itself--in this case, the removal of a perfectly safe diving board; it's the thinking behind it, the mindset driving it. more ›