Crane Swimming Pool for Women

Date

1931-present

Location

180 West Lorain Street, behind Cat in the Cream coffeehouse

Architects/Collaborators

Claude Stedman of Walker and Weeks, Cleveland (architect)
Crowell & Little, Cleveland (builder)

Style

Mediterranean

History

The Crane Swimming Pool for Women, the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Winthrop Murray Crane, Jr., and their daughter, Barbara, of Dalton, Mass., stands at the entrance to Galpin Field. The architect was the firm of Walker and Weeks of Cleveland. Ground was broken October 28, 1930, and the pool was opened for use May 12, 1931. The large room on the east side contained two pools, the main pool 75 feet long by 35 feet wide, and a smaller pool 35 feet by 15 feet. There was a visitors’ balcony extending along the entire length of the west wall. The lower extension of the building to the west contained offices, locker and shower rooms, a game room, and other auxiliary rooms. Hales Memorial Gymnasium was built adjoining it in 1939 specifically for women's physical education. The Hales Gym annex was built in 1958, which ties the Crane Pool building more closely to Hales Gym. With the opening of Philips Gymnasium and Carr Pool in 1971, Crane was no longer used as a swimming pool.

Sources

Oberlin College Archives, Office of the Secretary Records.

Ohio Historic Inventory for Hales Memorial Gymnasium, Cat in the Cream Coffeehouse, and Crane Pool by H. Petersen, M. Franck, D. Musson and O.H.I.O. interns, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, December 16, 2002, accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, May 26, 2015.