A Look Back at Ocean City
By Fred Miller
If you were in Ocean City before 1978, you remember the big swimming pool between the boardwalk and the Flanders Hotel. Jack G. Jernee, captain of the Ocean City Beach Patrol, officially opened the large pool, diving pool and kiddies pool on July 27, 1929. He was also poolside on May 30, 1924 when the Flanders’ first pool, built between the hotel’s solariums, was officially opened.
The Flanders’ aquatic center was equal to any in the country in size and magnificence. The large pool was 50-yards wide; the diving pool was 10-feet deep and had three diving boards–three, ten and 30 feet high; and the children had their own shallow wading pool.
During the 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s water shows were a popular form of summer entertainment, and the shows put on by the Ocean City lifeguards were the best in the country. They were designed to educate, entertain and thrill the people who filled the bleacher surrounding the pools.
The International Swimming Hall of Fame, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida has a large exhibit featuring water shows from all over the country and it includes a poster advertising the August 23, 1929 Flanders Water Carnival. The main attraction was Olympic swimming champion Johnny Weissmuller. Over 5,000 people watched Weissmuller beat Ocean City lifeguards Frank Holt, Matt McConnell and Richard Beatty in the 100-yard freestyle race.
Even after the popularity of the water shows ended, the OCBP swimmers continued to train in the large pool and they won a record 13 straight South Jersey Lifeguard Swim Meets between 1960 and 1972.
The pools were opened to the public and a large bathhouse was available for people to change and shower. On a hot day 1,500 people would be at the pools by noon.
September 4, 1978 the Flanders pool closed, never to open again–a victim of low attendance and high maintenance costs. Playland’s Castaway Cove, an amusement park, is now on the pool site.
