As part of our 50 Years of Preservation series, in February we are highlighting the Walton Street Pool and Park.
Artwork by John Toms
From the National Register for Historic Places Registration Form, written and compiled by Josi Ward:
Situated at the southern end of the historically African-American neighborhood known as Southside, Walton Street Park was established by the City of Asheville and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939. The park was founded as a sanctioned recreational space for the city’s Black population during the years of Jim Crow segregation. From the year of its opening until the eventual end of segregation in Asheville, Walton Street Park and Pool was the sole municipal park and swimming area available to the Black population in Asheville. First named Riverview Park, the park was originally built with a wading pool, tennis and horseshoe courts, and a small playground, all of which are no longer extant on the property. In 1947-1948, a poured-concrete pool and a concrete-block bathhouse were constructed in the southwest corner of the park. A softball diamond was added to the park in the 1950s and an asphalt basketball court in the 1960s.
Photo courtesy of the City of Asheville
The Walton Street Park and Pool is a locally significant neighborhood park that was constructed with federal funds in 1939 to serve Asheville’s African-American population during the years of Jim Crow segregation. Today the park comprises a pool dating to 1947; bathhouse from 1948; softball diamond from the 1950s; and a basketball court added in the 1960s. The park’s layers of significance as an African American heritage site, a recreational site, and a social history site are utterly intertwined and interdependent. The park’s significance as a recreational site when compared to other contemporary parks in Asheville is entirely informed by its status as a site for Black residents. Likewise, the park’s significance as a social gathering space is indivisible from its historic importance as the sole public park serving Asheville’s Black population. Even in the years since desegregation, the park remains a cherished Asheville site where longtime residents celebrate the vital role it has long played in the cultural and social life of Asheville’s Black population.
The Walton Street Park and Pool is one of very few landmarks of Black Asheville that remain standing today. A vestige of a segregated city whose inconvenient location and diminutive scale were both intentional features of its design within a racist system, the park has remained a valued community resource since its construction in 1939. By virtue of its status as the only city park designated to serve the entire African American population of Asheville, the park was unique in its time and remains without comparisons today. A simple building and site whose architectural features are unexceptional and typical of their time, the park and pool have increased in significance as so many other artifacts of a segregated Asheville have been demolished.
Photo courtesy of the City of Asheville
Walton Street Park was recognized as a Local Historic Landmark in 2022 and is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
