Throwback Thursday - The Swimming Hole

Built 1949
33247 Second Avenue

Mission Community Archives

The posted photograph is dated 1935.

In 1933, the Village Commissioners turned an area adjacent to the swimming pool known as “Lane Creek Valley” into a natural park. Water Commissioner Sam Smith applied to the Mission Council to build a swimming hole at the corner of Second and Horne, where Lane's Creek fed into a mud pit. 

The local newspaper reported: 

“With its stream, trees and everything provided by nature it will be the most popular spot in the district when the hot summer days arrive.” 

(SOURCE: Fraser Valley Record, June 1,1933). 

Work on the park included the construction of a road leading into the grounds and a bandstand for performances by the “new Mission band.” At the entrance of the park, a new wooden pool, complete with a diving board, was constructed with water being supplied from a dam on Lane’s Creek. There was also “a dressing cabin for the convenience of the public.”

Almost two months later following the arrival of hot weather, a front page story headlined “The Coolest Spot in Mission” proclaimed that the “Mission City swimming pool” was “one of the busiest places in town especially for the youngsters.” 

It stated that the water was “always fresh and clean, having a creek as an inlet and a dam with a gate to regulate the depth of the water” making it also suitable for diving and rafting. 

(SOURCE: Fraser Valley Record July 27, 1933)

In 1949, two wading pools were put in place and a full sized swimming pool was completed by 1952. 

The public library moved to this site in 1994 and their parking lot now covers what was the old swimming hole.