The Historical Story Of Home Swimming Pools

Stop and consider it for just a moment, and you soon will realize that so much that goes into a swimming pool is modern technology. Pumps, filters, hoses, etc. So with this in mind, the question comes to bear. Just when was the first swimming pools built and how on earth did they do things like pump the water if they were built some time ago?

Archaeologists have discovered that it was the ancient Romans who were the first people to actually design and build the first public swimming pools. Of course other ancient societies had things like fountains and ponds, but it was the Romans who were the first to build them for people to swim in. They also by the way were the first to design and build heated pools that were up on pillars above fires.

However, the concept of a cement public pool for swimming went its way along with the Roman Empire, and it would be "some time" until another public pool would be built. So then where did people swim for fun? They went to the beach or to lakes and rivers but even then, it just wasn't as popular as it is today and you can look at older pictures of swimwear to verify that.

For centuries in fact the standard for beach wear was complete coverage from the neck to the ankles for women and long shorts with a shirt for men. So even when they did make it to water, as you can imagine anything more than wading around was really too dangerous. Besides there were no public pools for people to take swimming lessons in like there are today.

So the first actual public pools, complete with diving boards were dug and filled back in the 1800s in London, England. Even so, as people used them they still had to abide by strict rules that governed not only how they could dressed but believe it or not, how that were allowed to swim in the water. What we know as the standard crawl stroke was frowned upon as being too "boorish", and rough.

So you can thank all the returning solders from WW2 for building and populating all the suburbs around cities of the US, Canada and the UK then installing pools in their backyards. Now up to then they weren't unheard of. It's just that they were far too expensive for most working families. Also all the components that go into a pool, like pumps, and filters were relatively new technology.


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