Historic Eisenschmidt Pool fills St. Helens community needs for over 80 years

Picturesque, the quick currents of the Columbia present numerous security difficulties for the town of St. Helens and the greater area. As the only public swimming pool in the area, the Eisenschmidt Pool has been a vital community resource because the 1930s by teaching generations of kids how to swim.
Picture credit: St. Helens Aquatic District
For the past 20 years, Anne Scholz, has acted as the pool supervisor and is happy of the work they do. “We have lots of aerobic classes, however our primary focus is teaching kids how to swim, we most likely have 250 kids a day here finding out how to swim,” said Scholz. “Its so essential to understand how to swim when living near the Columbia River.”
Scholz and her team try to keep rates as low as possible, so they do the majority of the pool maintenance themselves. “We make things last and do everything we can to prevent closing down the pool for frequently scheduled upkeep,” stated Scholz.
Last year the swimming pools boiler began malfunctioning and needed constant maintenance. Scholz attempted to fix it herself utilizing a variety of tactics, “I needed to put a video camera on it,” said Scholz. “I was driving back in during the night, I had to seriously babysit it.” Thats when Scholz decided it was time to check out options for a new, upgraded boiler. Scholz had found out about Energy Trust of Oregon in the past and chose to connect to see if the boiler upgrade was eligible for money incentives. Energy Trust concluded and conducted a research study that the boiler was eligible for a cash incentive and with the energy expense savings the new boiler might spend for itself within 2 years.
Even with the incentive, the boiler was a considerable capital expense for the general public pool. Eisenschmidt has served the community for over eighty years and regional homeowners were ready to rally in its assistance. “We did a GoFundMe and took donations at the counter up until we had raised $35,000 from the neighborhood,” stated Scholz. “People are very generous around here. Individuals like the swimming pool, and they desire to keep it going.”
Picture credit: St. Helens Aquatic District
“I never in a million years believed we would be able to pay for a new boiler and we did it,” she stated. The upgrade has actually made upkeep simpler and far less frequent for Scholz, along with significantly decreasing energy use by 24,400 therms each year. Scholz now has more time to focus on the swimming pools mission of providing budget-friendly swimming programs to the St. Helens community.
“It might not be a new swimming pool, however we love it and we like the community,” stated Scholz.

As the only public swimming pool in the area, the Eisenschmidt Pool has been an invaluable neighborhood resource considering that the 1930s by teaching generations of children how to swim.
For the past 20 years, Anne Scholz, has actually served as the pool manager and is happy of the work they do. Last year the pools boiler started malfunctioning and required constant maintenance. Scholz now has more time to focus on the pools objective of offering affordable swimming programs to the St. Helens community.