Here's the next chapter in the story of a once-popular neighborhood swim park that's turned into one of those old abandoned-places "after" photos you see on the internet.
South Roebuck Park, or East Side Park, depending on who you talk to, dates back to the 1950s. In 1963 a swimming pool was put in and it became the Eastside Swim Club. You can picture that very Americana scene during the next few decades. Young'ns spent endless summers there, future weather reporters learned to swim there, somebody once probably brought along a Baby Ruth. That whole thing into the 1990s.
Nearly 30 years old it was abandoned. Now it's an old ghost town of concession-stand ruins and a cracked, sun-bleached dry pool. Nature has about reclaimed it, and now the folks at Ruffner Mountain want to help that, reports AL.com's Greg Garrison.
The Ruffner Mountain Nature Coalition owns the 6.5-acre property, and the Birmingham City Council has agreed to a $1 million plan to turn it into a park with wheelchair-accessible trails. It's not connected to Ruffner Mountain property, but it's in the neighborhood. And when people have asked about disable-friendly places at Ruffner, well, Ruffner just hasn't had much to offer.
With this plan, funded mostly by American Rescue Plan money, Ruffner hopes to have it available by 2026.
