jan 2, 1921 - Armourdale Bath House

Description:

The Armourdale Bath House was constructed in 1921 by the city of Kansas City, Kansas immediately west of Shawnee Park to provide a dignified setting for community gatherings and amusement. Built at a cost of $75,000, the 50x125 foot, two-story rectangular building featured a combined gymnasium/community meeting room, and also housed a branch of the public library that was open two afternoons and evenings per week. A 50x85 foot in-ground swimming pool was located immediately west of the original building, and was reported to be the most heavily used aquatic center in the entire city.

Oral histories and verbal reports from Mexican-American residents of Armourdale, who lived in a segregated area east of 7th Street Trafficway through the early 1970s, indicate that the Bath House was segregated: Mexican-Americans were not allowed to use the pool and were discouraged from participating in social or recreational activities hosted there. As a result, the local Mexican-American community developed its own recreational facility, the Pan-American Club, which was located in the basement of a commercial building east of 7th Street. Mexican-Americans also participated in boxing matches held in the Skyline Center located in a commercial building on the south side of Osage Avenue, directly opposite the Bath House and Pool.

A controversy in the 1960s over the question of whether to desegregate the pool ultimately led to a decision by public officials to close and fill in the pool rather than make it accessible to Mexican-American and African-American patrons. This decision was part of a pattern of similar pool closings and privatization that took root in the wake of the Civil Rights movement and the adoption of local public accommodations and federal Civil Rights laws in the mid-1960s. The Armourdale Bath House is therefore significant for its association with the history of public recreation in working class urban communities, as well as for the segregation controversy that ultimately led to the pool being closed and filled. Source: https://khri.kansasgis.org/

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