Determined community group finally gets new public pool after 2-year battle with city of Boston
BOSTON - A popular swimming pool in Charlestown has finally re-opened to the public after a long struggle with the city of Boston.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu led the ribbon cutting at the new Clougherty Pool on Bunker Hill Street Thursday morning.
Charlestown's only public pool was shut down in June 2022 because of structural problems. It was supposed to re-open a year later, but delays dragged on.
Friends of Clougherty Pool
Residents formed a group, Friends of Clougherty Pool, and learned last year that the pool had to be completely demolished because it was in such poor shape. They collected nearly 2,000 signatures in just days, calling for the pool to be repaired. After going back and forth with the city, $30 million was finally set aside for a newly designed pool.
"This would not be where it is today without your advocacy, without your vision and without all the stories that we have heard about how important this pool is, how many memories have been formed here," Wu said Thursday.
It opened in time for the rest of the season, after being closed for the last two summers.
"Many of these facilities had not gotten the love and renovations and resources that they needed over many, many years," Wu said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The new pool has six lanes, a new filtration system, improved lighting and Wifi and expanded seating areas. The next phase of renovations will bring a new bathhouse and fully accessible locker rooms and showers and those are set to open in 2025.