History of the Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center

The Warren H. Daugherty Aquatic Center opened its doors in 1955, and was the result of a community effort and the generosity of the Daugherty Family.  During the 1940s, many women in town joined the workforce replacing the men who were off fighting the war.  In order to accommodate local children, a group of women in town, including Ina Daugherty, supervised a recreation program.  This program was renewed and enlarged each summer during and after the war.  One of the activities the children enjoyed was swimming at local swimming holes on the Row River.  Conditions there were not ideal with the muddy water so eventually the children were bussed to pools in Drain, Eugene, or Springfield, which were heated and safer for the children.  It was this group of women who thought if other towns can have a heated pool, then why not Cottage Grove.   There were also several drownings in local rivers and residents realized the need to have a place to teach the local children lifesaving swimming skills.

            In early 1953, Milton Turay, President of the Harrison Parent Teacher Association, brought a motion that a pool be built in Cottage Grove.  Soon after, a “springboard fundraiser” was started.  A large diving board was brought downtown by the old bank building and used to measure the funds brought in.  Nearly 150 women went door to door in what they called “the spring offensive” to raise funds for the pool.  Local students also helped out by donating the proceeds from a school play and monies raised at a “donkey basketball” tournament.  The Daugherty’s were instrumental in the fund raising effort and had agreed to match all of the funds raised, but when the funds came up short of the $90,000 needed, Warren Daugherty donated timber to the school district to make up the difference.  

            Gale Roberts of Springfield was awarded the bid based on his guarantee to have the pool complete and open in time to celebrate Cottage Grove’s Centennial Celebration and his use of some donated supplies and labor.  The pool opened as an outdoor facility and often had over 300 children swimming at a time.  Swim lessons were extremely popular with over 350 participants enrolled during the summer of 1959.  The pool was run by South Lane Recreation which carried on the work Ina Daugherty and the other ladies had started.  With the popularity of swimming by local students, the school board decided that if funds could be secured to cover the pool without cost to the school district, they would take over the year-round operation of the pool.  Once again, the Daugherty’s were the major contributor to this project. 

            Beginning in 1966, every South Lane School District student has participated in swim lessons at the pool.  Since then, there has not been a single drowning among those students.  The Daugherty’s generosity has touched generations of Cottage Grove residents and still continues today.

Carrie McCasline
Pool Manager