[walter king]

What I remember was a series of signs as you entered the pool area..."Regulation swim suits only no cut offs" "Everyone must shower before entering the pool", "No running or horseplay in pool area", "no food or glass in pool area", "no open sores in pool" and finally "No ******s allowed". Even as a kid I felt that was not right. Lawton was a racist town back then except for the military base. I moved there in 59 as a 6 year old and grew up there until we moved to Tulsa in 65.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

I was in Lawton a month ago and was blown away on all the work that has been done. The new park they have there is amazing. Lots of good clean up and development appears to be going on in little ol' Lawton.

[SamS1956]

I am in my 60's and my mom was from Lawton and her mom lived at 1914 Williams. I loved this place and Dante's Pizza and Mt. Scott drive in theater. Spend saturday at the park, Dante's for dinner and a head to the drive in. Progress sucks . . . .

[SluggoF16]

Originally Posted by SamS1956

I am in my 60's and my mom was from Lawton and her mom lived at 1914 Williams. I loved this place and Dante's Pizza and Mt. Scott drive in theater. Spend saturday at the park, Dante's for dinner and a head to the drive in. Progress sucks . . . .

Where was Dante's back then? I've been in the area for a decade so it must have gone out of business since then.

[J R Howard]

Doe Doe Park
Played a big part the early life of J. Bob Howard.
When I was 7 or so, I got to ride in the park in a small boat that went around in a circle.

The park allowed the Red Cross to provide swimming lessons from 8 to 10 AM Monday through Friday for several weeks. There were lots of students. I went through all the classes and then was an aid for two years. Aids got free swimming at the park and I took advantage of it. In 1959, when I was 16, I applied to be a life guard as soon as I took the life savers course. Later, I took the Water Safety Instructor Course. Management remembered me as an aid. I started selling candy for 35 cents an hour and then 50 cents an hour as a lifeguard. I spent three full summers as a guard and for three summers, I worked the weekends. I made 90 cents an hour during that time.

The pool was100 feet by 200 feet with a wooden bridge dividing the shallow water from the deep end. It contained about 900,000 gallons. You could swim all day for 50 cents. You had to be able to swim 100 feet across the pool to swim on the deep side of the bridge. There was one high diving board, two medium diving boards, and one low board. Only forward dives were allowed, No gainers. When things were slow, we would dive for the coins on the bottom of the pool. There was also a large steel wheel that you could lay on and rotate into the water to help you learn how to dive. Laying parallel to the bridge on the shallow side was a steel cable about 10 feet over the water. Every 6-feet, a chain was attached, and on the end of the chain was a ring to hang on to. The object was to jump about 2 feet into the air and grab the first ring and swing like Tarzan across the pool. There were a couple of people that could go across and back and maybe 10 of us could go across and a few more coming back. Most guys could go only about a third of the way before they dropped into the water. The cable sagged enough that you could take two aggressive steps in the water to propel you to the next ring. In the shallow end, there was a nice slide and two kiddie pools. There was also a large 2-feet wide tractor tire secured in three-feet of water which was a great place to play king of the mountain. In the middle of the deep end was a tower with a small circular room and a ladder to the top. Games of tag were common. There were two grass areas for sun bathing and a Dairy Queen. One year, an adjoining restaurant was open, but it wasn’t successful. The pool used aluminum sulfate on a 20’ x 40’ foot bed of sand to filter the water and copper sulfate and chlorine for sanitation. Bill said his pool water was clearer than tap water.

During my first three years, business was great. On the weekends, we would have about ten guards and there was hardly room to swim. When the park was full, the bosses would buy us a Kentucky Fried Chicken lunch. They had only one death that I know of and that was caused by a heart attack long after I left.

Doe Doe Park was a great place to work. There were three bosses: Ben Hutchins, Bill Hutchins, and Bill’s wife, Doris. I only remember one female life guard. I believe Doris didn't want to deal with the problems with a mixed work force. The two men were Ben senior's sons. Both were great. Ben was all business while Bill was well liked. They did not get along and about three years later, Ben managed another family business, and Ben senior took over at the park. Sometime during my first year, I took over vacuuming the pool most mornings. The pool was opened from 10 AM to 10 PM, and I worked many 80 hour weeks. At the end of my first year, Ben junior bought me a sports coat for my work ethic. Bill and Doris also raised Appaloosa horses on the property.

I paid a visit one afternoon when there were blacks picketing the entrance. Bill told me he had nothing against them except he felt that integrating the pool would drive many whites away and ruin the business.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by J R Howard

Doe Doe Park
I paid a visit one afternoon when there were blacks picketing the entrance. Bill told me he had nothing against them except he felt that integrating the pool would drive many whites away and ruin the business.

Interesting write up. Particularly this part. I often think about this when I think about the south's segregated period. White owned businesses who violated or even considered violating the norms and customs of the times faced these types of consequences.

I can barely remember segregated swimming pools. I grew up in Ponca City and the city had three public swimming pools for whites and one swimming pool for Blacks (that was by the Black school). They closed the Black school down in 1967 and integrated the Black kids in the school system. However, the Black pool actually stayed open for several more years.