Shelley Adcock in the WJEZ studios
By WJEZ Staff
Shelley Adcock has fond memories of the Camp-Humiston Pool and she wants to make sure that the recently demolished structure is not forgotten. Earlier this year, Adcock was part of a group that tried to stop the destruction of the pool, but a meeting with city officials convinced her and others that the structure’s deterioration made the demolition necessary. She was on hand as the pool was dismantled, though, and she says she worked throughout the process to preserve significant bits and pieces. Adcock says she was motivated by her memories of countless summer days spent at the pool. “It was the one thing the community had together,” Adcock told WJEZ’s Todd Wineburner. “It was our gathering place…it was our babysitter in the summer. You would go and you would talk about your crushes and who you were going to have as a teacher next year. You met your friends there—your parents would meet your friends. It was just a very unique place for the community.”
Adcock says the façade of the pool has been preserved, along with various other fixtures like lights, handrails and lifeguard stands. The plan is to bring those elements together in a permanent memorial where the pool once stood. The current design is for a circular paved plaza with a fountain as its centerpiece. The archway that greeted visitors to the pool will be displayed near the plaza and all of the structures will comply with the limitations imposed by the fact that the park is in a flood plain.
Adcock has volunteers on board for some of the construction aspects of the project and she’s starting a fund-raising campaign. She hopes to have the project started next spring. The Pontiac City Hall has more information available, as well as access to special accounts that have been set up for donations. More information is available online at Facebook.com/Remembering Camp-Humiston Memorial Swimming Pool, Pontiac, IL.
