When Wichita’s 2017 aquatics master plan called for the pool at McAdams Park to be replaced with a splash pad, a grassroots coalition of community activists joined forces to ask the city to reconsider.
In 2021, after receiving a round of renovations, it was renamed McAfee Pool and transformed from an Olympic-sized pool into a splash pool with slides and two lap swimming lanes.
“What means the world to me is a group of people coming together across town to support saving the pool,” said Cheryl McAfee, whose father, renowned architect Charles McAfee, designed the pool and the adjacent concrete and masonry pool house. the beautiful modernist style of 1969.
Now, the city has received a $150,000 grant from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, and it is the McAfee family’s architectural firm to upgrade and develop a historic preservation plan to ensure the facility remains a fixture in northeast Wichita for generations to come.
“They always talk about value engineering. Well, we don’t want to value engineer this project. If we’re doing something that’s supposed to last a long time, we want to be the best,” said Cheryl McAfee, CEO of McAfee3.
The pool design has been featured by the Getty Museum, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Gore Foundation. Cheryl McAfee aims to preserve the “beauty and rhythm” of her father’s vision.
“People may not realize it, but there are no bricks in this project,” he said. “So when you look at the bricks, you can tell that there are no pieces. Everything is lined up in modules from the concrete structure to the brick structure.
Just as important to maintaining the original vision is that community members who use the pool see themselves in the design, he said.
“In this structural system or on the brick wall, somehow we (want) to have some kind of artwork – even old black and white photos and color photos juxtaposed from the families who used the facility in the past and those who are still using it today, ” said Cheryl McAfee.
‘A swimming pool that everyone can use’
LaWanda Deshazer, a youth counselor for the NAACP Wichita branch, said she would like to see historical plaques placed around the facility.
“It’s just using the fact that the pool is historic and we’re not telling that story very well,” DeShazer said.
For many years, McAdams had the only outdoor pool that Black Wichitans were allowed to swim in. But in the late 1960s, when the construction of I-135 cracked the community of northeast Wichita, separating neighbors and disrupting the historically Black business district flourished. also run right through park property. The existing swimming pool and baseball field were to be removed and moved to the west side of the new road between 13th and 17th Street. Charles McAfee was asked to design the new swimming pool facility, which was completed in 1969.
“When 1-35 ran through this community, it really ripped and took the pool with it and took the baseball field with it, but it also turned and inspired a new park to be developed,” Cheryl McAfee.
Charles McAfee, now 91, designed the pool and pool house at a time when racial integration was legal but segregation remained in many public facilities, including pools.
“This is a pool that everyone can use,” Cheryl McAfee said.
Pool upgrades and funding
McAfee Pool is one of eight sites selected to receive restoration funding through the Conserving Black Modernism initiative.
“We are grateful to the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund for their support of Wichita Park & ​​Recreation and our dedication to highlighting the achievements and resilience of African Americans,” said Parks Director Troy Houtman.
There has been some damage to the concrete in the 55 years since the pool has been open to the public – nothing structural, but the repairs should definitely be a priority. The shower has drainage issues, and a changing table needs to be added, along with other accessibility upgrades in the bathroom and closet.
“When I think about accessibility, it’s not just wheelchair accessibility,” Cheryl McAfee said. “Yes, what’s the sign? So that people who are deaf can see the signs, or people who are sick can still go in and swim if they have vision problems.
It is too early to say how far the $150,000 will stretch, but the hope is to find additional state and federal money, and Cheryl McAfee will not count out the possibility of private fundraising. There is currently no timeline for the project, but he said the hope is that it could be done quickly.
“My father is 91 years old, and I’m happy that he can, I pray that he will come here to see the beautiful transformation and keep one of the buildings,” he said.
Preservation and the future of ponds
Topeka-based design studio Treanor has also been enlisted to help assess the pond’s physical condition and develop a preservation plan.
“This is an important piece of architecture for the community, and sometimes when it’s in the neighborhood you don’t know how significant it is,” said Treanor principal Vance Kelley.
“The advantage we have now in the community is that Charles McAfee is still alive. His family is still doing architecture, which means we have access to the archives. We can understand what the original design goals were.
A comprehensive preservation plan will outline not only what needs to be done to protect and maintain the facility, but what programs must be maintained at the pond to ensure its vitality.
Swimming classes and lifeguard training opportunities are important parts, Cheryl McAfee said.
“If you have a generation that doesn’t swim, how do we engage the new generation? How do we get people who have never swam before to enjoy swimming?” she said. “What can we do in this facility to say, ‘This is where you want to learn to swim.'”
Aspiring swimmers aren’t the only ones who can learn from the historic facility.
“It’s also a learning curve for other architects,” says Cheryl McAfee.
