Medford Bathhouse/Swimming Pool – Medford

Address:	Guthrie and Fifth Streets, Medford, Oklahoma	County	Grant
Started:	1936	Completed	1936
Agencies:	WPA	NRHP:	September 9, 1988

Current Usage

Abandoned

Description:

The Medford Swimming Pool is a poured concrete rectangular (100′ x 61′) pool. The bathhouse is a single-story, rectangular (77′ x 20′) structure constructed of brick laid with a running bond. The stepped hipped roof has an intersecting gable on the south side that extends over the entrance of a single door. On either side of the door are singly placed windows which have been filled with wood inserts. A single door rear entrance exits to the pool area. The window alterations have not affected the integrity of the building.

To sustain an acceptable quality of life in a small town is difficult, especially if that town is located on the Great Plains during seasons of drought. The purpose of the Medford pool and bathhouse was to improve the community’s quality of life for its young people, an objective admirably accomplished given the heavy use of the pool during summer times over the last one-half century. Recreationally there is not much to do in Medford during the summers accept to play baseball and swim. Exceptional significance of the facility is also apparent in that its construction impacted the economic and social well-being of the community during the worst of the depression and dust bowl days of the 1930s. Wages from some 12,000 man-hours utilized by the project softened the financial impact of the depression for Medford’s business community and enabled the wage earner to regain some of his pride and to tide himself and his family over economically until better days returned. The Medford pool is a symbol of the timely economic assistance provided by the WPA.[1]

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION: Lots 1, 2 and 3, Block 90 in Rock Island Addition to Medford original.

This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]