Wow! Can You Believe at One Time Abilene Had a Segregated Pool?

I was visiting with my friend, Jay Moore, an Abilene, Texas historian, discussing some of the outlandish tales we’ve heard over the years around Abilene. During our conversation, he shared with me the tale of the “CoC Pool.” While it took me a bit to recall it, once he started describing it, I knew exactly what he was talking about. I remembered it as the “segregated swimming pool” or, as some referred to it, the “Church of Christ Boys and Girls Pool.”

The legend was that this pool was meant to cast away sin. Jay said, “It's true! There was such a swimming pool. Furthermore, it had a fence right down the middle of it. The fence was to keep Church of Christ boys and girls separated!” It turned out that the pool really did have a “sin-deflecting fence" right down the middle of it.

The pool was called all kinds of names because of its location in the Key City. The area of Abilene was also referred to as "Holy Hill," not too far from Abilene Christian College (ACC), now known as Abilene Christian University (ACU).

What exactly were its owners trying to accomplish by having such a segregated/separated pool? According to Jay Moore, from the research he did, they were trying to keep the boys and girls separated while swimming together.

Jay Moore initially thought it was a hoax, saying, "I came around as a believer when none other than our state representative, Stan Lambert, told me it was fact. And if Stan says it is so, then it is so. Plus, he had a photo." It turns out, the legend of a pool with a sin-deflecting barrier is 100% true.

In July of 1960, the 32-acre Christian Youth Center (CYC) opened in east Abilene. The effort was led by Bill Johnson, the education minister at College Church of Christ (now University Church of Christ). Mr. Johnson dreamed of a park where families could visit and enjoy wholesome recreation—a place where you could camp, fish, hike, bike, ride horses, take boat rides, have picnics, and swim in a pool divided by a really tall fence. The CYC was located just east of Loop 322, not too far south of Interstate 20.
Source: Jay Moore - Historian

Stan Lambert went on to say that his sisters worked as CYC lifeguards (on the girls' side, of course), and they even came up with a little jingle that Stan remembers to this day: “The CYC is the place for me, where the boys and girls swim separately!”

I’ve been informed that the property was sold in a foreclosure auction in 1973. As for the pool, it is still there but no longer open for swimming.