In 1972 The Kiwanis Club of Redmond and its Kiwanis Foundation took on the task of spearheading a new indoor swimming pool which would be used year-round by the entire community to replace the old outdoor pool in Ray Johnson Park near Fifth and Highland.

Fifty years later, the Kiwanis board of directors has endorsed the $49 bond measure submitted by the Redmond Area Parks and Recreation District for a new recreation center and swimming pool in southwest Redmond.

“The population of Redmond has grown more than five-fold in that half century. The Cascade Swim Center is still functional but overcrowded,” said Josh Werner, Kiwanis president.

“It is only fitting that Kiwanis endorse this measure to benefit the children and families of today’s Redmond,” he said, recalling the historic campaign five decades ago.

Members of the club made countless trips to see other indoor pools throughout Oregon and Washington, especially those on the east side of the Cascades with similar climate conditions, to determine the good and bad points in determining the design for ours.

The 1970s, especially the latter half, was a period of major inflation, so the more money the club raised, the more out of reach the project became. In 1972 the estimated cost was $250,000. The general obligation bond measure approved in 1978 was $800,000, and the Redmond Kiwanis Foundation contributed $200,000 more to finance the $1 million cost.

To raise funds, the Kiwanis Club sponsored hamburger, chicken and salmon barbecues, raffles, a hootenanny and other special events including a concert by the New Oregon Singers. The radio-TV auction was instigated as a fund raiser for the pool. Kiwanis also held paper drives and Mother’s Day breakfasts.

The city of Redmond contributed $50,000 which had been budgeted for the old outdoor pool operations. The largest single contributor was the Bend Foundation which provided $75,000.

When it became apparent the costs were escalating faster than the funds could be raised, the Kiwanis Club spearheaded the establishment of the Central Oregon Park and Recreation District to manage the pool and to put the bond measure on the ballot in April 1978.

The district was created in a special election on July 8, 1975, by a vote of 327 to 248 when the population of Redmond was less than 5,000. The first five board members were Don Rich and Carl Leth from Kiwanis and Skip Easterbrooks, Eloise MacMurray and Ray Malott.

The pool opened to the public in November 1979.

Of the $330,897 raised by the Kiwanis Foundation in its pool efforts, $200,000 was contributed for construction costs, architects’ fees, elections costs and interest for the first payment on the bonds. Another $36,000 was dedicated to the first year’s operations of the pool. A year or so later, the Kiwanis Foundation funded the construction of the adjacent wading pool for $16,000.

The Kiwanis Foundation also loaned the park and recreation district $25,000 interest free on at least two occasions to finance repairs to the Cascade Swim Center. In 2002, the Foundation spent $1,165 for a new flagpole at the swim center.