The historic Waddell Pool on Tuesday was demolished. Planned for the location is a splash pad, which is expected to break ground in 2023. It will be located just to the right of where the pool once stood, and the pool area will be turned into green space. Staff photo / R. Michael Semple

NILES — A handful of former poolgoers came out to watch the demolition of Waddell Pool on Tuesday and reminisce about old summer days there, as Niles officials look forward to future development at Waddell Park.

The demolition began just after 9 a.m. and some people stood by for more than an hour to watch, including Candace Johnson, who was Candace Brawdy in her pool days. She moved to Kentucky a few months ago, but previously lived in Niles for 59 years. She came back to town to visit family, but stayed an extra day to see the demolition.

“We just loved this place growing up,” Johnson said. “(My sister and I) came today to see it one last time. I was tearing up a bit earlier.”

Johnson and others who were there picked up a brick from the pool house as it was being torn down to keep as a reminder of cheery, sunny days of their youth. When she went to the pool with her family in the late 1960s, Johnson said they could buy a family pass for the summer for $20.

Jim Murray also picked up a brick to remember his time at the pool. He was a lifeguard in the summer of 1977 along with a swim instructor and a lifesaving instructor. He grabbed bricks for a couple of his siblings as well to remember their time at the facility.

The pool has been closed since 2014, but first opened in 1934 as part of a public works program for which the government offered to pay 30 percent of the costs for projects that would put people to work in the midst of the Great Depression. The facility was dedicated at a ceremony July 24 of that year. The ceremony was attended by 5,000 people and about 750 were able to swim afterward, according to the Niles Historical Society. The ceremony included a water pageant and a diving exhibition, and the high school band played.

Some in the Niles community wish the pool could come back, but in 2018, it was estimated the pool required $2.5 million in repairs to be safe to open. Instead, the city is paying $25,000 to demolish the pool and will put a splash pad at Waddell Park that is being paid for through a grant. The Trumbull County Council of Governments is assisting with the demolition work, which is being done by the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office.

“By being a part of the council of governments and utilizing the county engineer’s office, we were able to save about $50,000,” Niles Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz said.

The COG has assisted the city with past projects, including the demolition of the former Garfield school on Third Street in 2019 and the Niles Times building that had been across from the municipal building in 2021.

The pool demolition will take one week. No asbestos was found on the property, the mayor said. The roofing materials will go to a landfill, but rest of the pool house building, which was made of bricks, concrete and cinder blocks, will be ground up and used to fill the pool.

City council is expected to vote today on design and build plans for the splash pad, a project that is expected to break ground in 2023. It will be located just to the right of where the pool once stood, and the pool area will be turned into green space.