MONOGRAPHS OF KINNEY COUNTY’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE: Fort Clark’s Post Swimming Pool

This bi-weekly feature examines the enduring unique architecture to be found here in Kinney County by spotlighting individual buildings and providing brief histories, complimented by period photographs.

Our intent is to explore the past, inspire the present, and build the future by showcasing the remarkable associations and legacies of structures which have stood the test of time and continue to contribute so much to the exceptional heritage of Kinney County. Our next subject is “Fort Clark’s Post Swimming Pool,” post facility No. 294 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a compatible feature in the Fort Clark Historic District.

When completed in 1939, Fort Clark’s swimming pool became the largest ever built on any post in the Army. This state of art all-concrete boat shaped pool one hundred feet wide and three hundred feet long replaced the dirt bottom pool which had served the garrison for nearly forty years. Soldiers’ children who return today recall many a summer afternoon spent in the cool waters of the original pool. They also remember the post regulation which restricted the pool to “officers only” after 1600 hours [4 P.M.].

When Colonel George S. Patton, Jr. arrived at Fort Clark on July 24, 1938 to take command of the 5th Cavalry he sent a note to his wife Beatrice of his initial impressions of his new duty station, "... All one can do here is to Ride-Read Write & Swim." The Work Projects Administration accomplished construction of the new pool. Water enters the pool from the spring and flows through the pool into Las Moras creek. This flow-through system keeps the pool filled with one million gallons of fresh springwater at a constant sixty-eight degrees. Without question the most popular feature of the post,  particularly with children, the pool helped relieve the tedium of soldiering in the oppressive Texas heat. No photo album of memories of service at Fort Clark was complete without a picture of the pool.

Medal of Honor recipient Brigadier General Jonathan M. Wainwright was the post commander when the pool was completed. His decision to open the pool to all-ranks caused such resentment among his officers that an inspector general complaint was filed against Wainwright accusing him of diverting funds from other W.P.A. projects on the post in order to complete the pool. The only other projects at the time were the Officers’ Club and the motor pool, both completed that year. Many speculate Wainwright’s reassignment to the Philippines, in the fall of 1940, was in some way connected with the I.G. investigation.

During the Guest Ranch era the third largest spring fed swimming pool in Texas, surpassed only by Balmorhea and Barton Springs, remained the single most popular recreational facility on the property. Since the beginning of the 20th century the cool waters of Las Moras Spring had filled a pool here and beckoned swimmers. Ranch guests spent countless hours in the shade of the oaks that surround the spring and pool. The pool boasted several diving platforms, a sliding board, and two rafts anchored in the deep water. No photographer could pass up taking an image of the pool.

Voted #10 on a list of the 25 best swimming holes in Texas by Texas Monthly Magazine in 2008, the pool, now 87 years old, has recently fallen on hard times brought on by long-term drought in southwest Texas. A cycle of drastically reduced spring flow now leaves the pool dry and empty during the summer months, traditionally it’s most popular period of use. Historic droughts in years past have had similar impact. Hopefully Mother Nature will mend her ways and soon return the pool to the good ole days.