By Patrick Baron

PONTIAC – Pontiac residents assembled to prevent the demolition of the Camp Humiston Swimming Pool, but city administrators say the pool is unsafe and must be torn down.

The pool opened in 1925 and was one of the only above-ground public pools created. The pool itself has not been in operation for over a decade. Protesters were gathering support of the Facebook page “Remembering Camp Humiston Memorial Swimming Pool” and collecting hundreds of signatures on a petition to keep the pool standing.

Organizer Mark Smith explained the city had provided funds to renovate other longstanding landmarks in Pontiac and said the pool could have been another.

“Put up a fence around or something,” said Smith. “We spent $700,000 on the Eagle Theater to redo that, how long is it going to take to get the taxpayer money back? But we can’t spend the two grand to dress this up a little bit and say ‘oh what a cool pool’.”

Smith posted on the group’s Facebook page on Tuesday that he and a few others had met with Pontiac Mayor Bob Russell and Pontiac City Manager Bob Karls about the prospect of keeping the pool up. However, Russell and Karls reportedly said the pool is in a state of disrepair and cannot be kept standing for safety reasons.

Smith thanked those who voiced their support for keeping the pool standing.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].