Walton Street Park Update: 2022

Walton Street Park includes a picnic shelter, basketball court, and playground, as well as the historic Walton Street Pool, built in 1938 as a segregated facility for Asheville’s “colored” population.”

For generations the park has been an integral part of the Southside community, a favored location for birthday parties, family celebrations, and other community events over the past three-quarters of a century.

With that history, Asheville Parks & Rec. allocated $500,000 in 2021-22 for redevelopment of the park, leading to replacement of park benches and grills in Nov. 2020 and installation of a new park sign and improved lighting the following spring. And while Parks & Rec. is working with the area nonprofit Southside Rising to determine how best to reimagine the park, the decision to close the pool has been greeted with some dismay by many area residents.

Replacement rather than repair

Since 2017, as the pool deteriorated, the Parks & Recreation Department determined that the cost of repairing the long-neglected pool was too high. Despite strong community support for restoring and maintaining the historic facility, Parks & Rec. decided to replace it altogether with a new pool at the Dr. Wesley Grant, Jr. Southside Center just over a block away.

The decision came after a number of years of making significant repairs to the pool in the 2010s. Then, according to the City’s website, “a professional assessment of Walton Street Pool in 2016 found the infrastructure deficient with major leaks and failing underground pipes. The investigation concluded repairs and renovations will no longer extend the useful life of the facility. Additionally, the pool has a very small shallow area and drops quickly to a depth of 12 feet, leaving little swimmable space for young pool users.”

So, in September 2019, City Council amended the Grant Southside Center design contract to include a new outdoor pool to replace the Walton Street Pool. Just one-fifth of a mile from the current pool, the center has ample space for a pool and expanded amenities that can accommodate swimmers of different ages and abilities. Parks & Rec. says, as “a staffed, full-complex recreation center,” the Grant Southside Center can also offer increased programing and greater security and safety than at the Walton Street location.

What will the future bring?

Community surveys about development of the Walton Street Park have indicated support for better access routes, expanded playground features, a walking and jogging track, and a trail connection to A-B Tech Community College. But in the meanwhile, the future designation of the historic pool and bathhouse—possibly a national or state Historic Site, and/or a Local Landmark designation, due to its relevance in the history of segregation and the location in the Southside neighborhoods destroyed by Urban Renewal—is up in the air.

Whatever decisions are ultimately reached, Parks & Rec. and Southside Rising are planning to hold block parties, neighborhood meetings, and discussions to determine the community’s priorities regarding the needed features, additions, and enhancements to the Southside area’s recreation facilities.