Deep Eddy

Although Barton Springs had enjoyed a longer tradition as a recreational area, many early twentieth-century Austinites discovered that the amenities offered by Deep Eddy were more readily accessible: one could take the street car to Deep Eddy, but Barton Springs was "way out in the country." In 1916, owner A.J. Eilers developed the Deep Eddy area into a tourist resort which boasted the first open air concrete swimming pool in Texas. Visitors enjoyed water shows such as the one featuring the Great Lorena and her diving horses. In 1935, the City of Austin purchased Deep Eddy from Eilers. During that same year, a $25,000 construction project to erect a bath house began--the first WPA project to be started in Austin.

"In addition to the Colorado River, there is a large concrete natatorium, one hundred feet wide and two hundred feet long. This pool varies from a wading depth of one foot for the little folks to ten feet of water for the more expert swimmers and divers. Around the pool there are constructed various devices; such as slides, spring-boards, trapezes, flying rings, horizontal bars, diving towers, etc...The temperature of this water is about sixty-eight degrees, winter and summer, and is so clear that the bottom of the pool is easily seen at a depth of ten feet...A group of summer cottages had been erected on the high bluff overlooking the pool and the river. These houses are floored, screened, and equipped with electric lights and running water, affording the occupants all the pleasures of camping with none of it hardships. These camps are rented at reasonable rates." Deep Eddy Bathing Beach brochure, 1916.