Today, the Michigan Union is where students grab a snack, study or meet up with friends between classes. But a century ago, students could pop in to practice their crawlstroke.
The basement level, where the Barnes & Noble bookstore now sits, once housed a swimming pool.
The Michigan Union, designed by architects Pond and Pond, opened in 1919 with a billiards room, a barber shop, meeting spaces, and student dining rooms, but a lack of funding delayed the pool’s completion for another six years.
The pool finally opened in late 1925, and the university dedicated it on Jan. 15, 1926, during a swim meet against Wisconsin (U-M was victorious).
For four decades, the Union pool offered a convenient place for swim meets, water polo matches, and recreation — if you were a man. While women were allowed into the pool with a male escort or for special events, the Union — and thus, the pool — was reserved primarily for men. The Union didn’t officially open its doors to women until 1968, two years after the pool closed.
By the 1960s, the pool’s use had reportedly declined significantly, and maintenance costs were rising. As a result, the university closed the pool in 1966 and replaced it with administrative offices. Eventually, the space was turned into a bookstore.
The transition, however, wasn’t apparent to all. In 1998, former Alumni Association Director Bob Forman told The Michigan Daily that visitors carrying towels and looking for a pool would occasionally wander into his office, which was built over the old diving board.
Helen Peters
Alumni Association Executive Director Bob FORMAN. Please correct spelling. Thx
The University Record
Thank you, Helen. The spelling has been corrected.
Daniel Sheline
Alumni Association Director Bob Forman must have had a sense of humor. I found that part that people would show up to his office with towels hilarious, lol. Like the Union, IM building used to have a pool too. Why is the university removing these architecturally iconic swimming pools from their historic buildings? I find it a shame….
Marshall Smith
My father, Ivan Smith, was on the Michigan Swim Team in the early 30s. Under Coach Matt Mann, he swam on a relay team that set a record that still stands today (I’m not kidding!). Explanation: At the NCAA finals held at Northwestern, March 15, 1930, the 160 yard freestyle relay team set the record at 1 minute 14.4 seconds. It was the last year that NCAA held championships in a 20-yard pool. (Of course, Michael Phelps might even be able to beat this time by himself now.)
I swam in the Michigan Union pool several times as a child, my father proud to introduce me and my brother Nelson to it. I also remember the intramural pool that was essentially in the same location as the current competition pool. Swam in that one too. When I was a student in the late 50s, I went out for the swim team as a “swim on” and put in many laps in the pool that was then at the corner of State St. and E. Hoover, under Coach Gus Stager. Needless to say, I didn’t break any records, but am proud of Michigan swimmers in the past and in the present.