The Wyoming Swim Club was incorporated in December 1958, the result of a grass-roots community effort to build a local swim facility. 

According to our current best information (recollections from charter members), the Swim Club started with a suggestion at a Junior Woman's Club meeting in the mid-1950s. At that time, the only swim facilities in the area were the Greenhills community pool and the pool at Coney Island. 

From that suggestion, a committee was formed, brochures were printed and a grass-roots effort was begun to enlist charter families in establishing a local swim club. It took several years to enlist 175 charter families who put up $300 each to build the pool. In addition to the financial support, charter members actually performed the physical labor involved in clearing the site to keep costs down.

The pool is a "Patterson" pool, a state-of-the-art design at the time. It includes a 2-ft deep area ideal for young children just learning to swim. 

Over the years, the membership grew from 175 to 350 families. And the members continued to finance improvements, including a paved parking lot, a wooden deck with picnic tables and grills, and equipment for heating the pool.

In the early 1990's, the board recommended a $100,000 capital improvement program to upgrade equipment and improve the bathhouse. 

Members were assessed an extra $45/year for 5 years or could pay a reduced lump sum amount. Because many families supported the program and elected to pay the lump sum, the club was able to pay off the 5-year loan in 3 years and avoid 2 years worth of interest payments.

Jerry Scheele managed the club for 28 years and was one of only 3 managers in first 39 years of operation. When he retired after the summer of 1997, the club awarded him a lifetime membership.  Upon Jerry's retirement, the Board of Trustees contracted Cincinnati Pool Management (CPM) to oversee the daily operation of the swim club.

CPM operated the club until 2006, when the board contracted with the Powel Crosley Jr. YMCA (PCY) to take over operations for the 2007 season.  PCY continues to operate the facility.  They open up the pool in the early summer and get it in mechanical operating condition. They hire the staff, evaluate staff performance on a monthly basis, provide on-going staff training and drills, and winterize the pool at the end of the season.

By 2006 the pool was experiencing significant leakage problems, and the gutters had deteriorated badly. The board, at that time, recommended another capital improvement program – an ambitious plan to demolish and build a new pool and bath house, requiring a one-time assessment of nearly $1000 per member family. Many members were unwilling or unable to accept this financial burden, and as a result, the membership fell from 350 to 125 families. The board worked hard to recover membership, and struggled to keep the club open for another season on a line-of-credit. But as the 2007 season came to an end, the board felt the financial condition of the club had reached a point where they had no choice but to recommend closing the club.

The recommendation to close the club was taken to the membership for a vote in September 2007. At that time, several members volunteered to assume control of the board with the goal of saving the club. The membership of the club voted overwhelmingly to keep the club open and a planning committee took over for the board of trustees. The planning committee immediately began examining options for keeping the club open.

In January 2008 the committee presented a business plan to the membership that proposed $135,000 in renovations, to be funded by a voluntary capital campaign, along with a plan to increase membership. At that time the committee was voted in by the membership as the new board of trustees, and they immediately went to work planning the renovations and setting up the capital campaign to raise the needed funds.

Their vision was to build on the club's strengths – it’s great location, it’s beautiful wooded 5.5-acre lot, and, most of all, the close-knit community of families that voted to keep the club open. The board also recognized that the condition of the pool structure itself was not as dire as previously thought, requiring only minor pipe repairs to stop the leaking problem. The plan they developed focused on turning the club into "Wyoming's Backyard Getaway" ­ a relaxing, fun-for-the-whole-family summer retreat with new shaded areas, a completely renovated pool with a new state-of-the-art gutter system and a brighter, renovated bath house with an easily-accessible center entrance. They also planned new social and aquatic programs, free high-speed internet access, and re-opened the abandoned snack bar.

Amazingly, their plan was to do all of this without increasing membership dues or imposing a one-time assessment, instead funding the improvements with a voluntary capital campaign. The 125 members came through by not only raising the money needed, but with an incredible physical effort as well. Members came out every weekend from March through May to renovate and paint the bathhouse, while a contractor installed the new gutter system on the pool.

On Memorial Day weekend 2008, the contractor was putting the final touches on the new gutters and the bathhouse had a new, bright, open feel. Members kicked off the 50th anniversary season with a party attended by not only the current members, but by over 20 of the original charter members! By the end of the 2008 season, the membership increased from 125 to over 175 members and continues to grow every week. The future of the club again looks bright, and it should continue to enrich the Wyoming area for many years to come.

As a club, we owe a debt of gratitude to the charter members that got the club off the ground and laid the groundwork for its continued success. Charter members we know of include:

Andy and Doris Deardurff

Dick and Marie Burks

Dick and Charmy Voss

Violet and Russell Mertens

Wilma and Sheldon Flowers

Dot Woodside

The current board owes a tremendous debt of gratitude to all of the members who stuck with the Swim Club and breathed new life into this great Wyoming treasure. 50 years after it began, the same community spirit and optimism that started it ensures that the Wyoming Swim Club will be around for years to come.