The unprecedented demand for housing from returning World War II veterans and their families spurred the neighborhood of Twin-Brook (original spelling) in Rockville. The small home designs adhered closely to newly established VA loan regulations, making home ownership affordable for veterans. At the close of 1948, the earliest families moved into homes close to Veirs Mill Road, on streets named after then recent battles such as Okinawa. Shortly thereafter, efforts to establish a pool began. The Twinbrook Community Pool will celebrate its 70th anniversary this summer.
The location of the pool on Atlantic Avenue had originally been planned to be a church. The 5.6 acre parcel of land was purchased from the Washington Archdiocese for a friendly $10 by the Twinbrook Swimming Pool Corporation.
The community came together to achieve the goal of a neighborhood pool. A highly successful membership drive raised funds for building materials. Residents joined assembled committees to oversee accounting, engineering, and marketing of the pool during construction.
Around thirty local residents, mostly recent veterans, turned out to physically dig out the ground for the pool, which opened in July of 1955. The result was an Olympic-sized pool, 165 feet by 52 feet and filled with 300,000 gallons of water. It was one of the largest community pools in the area. Enormously popular with the Twinbrook young families, the pool boasted 700 members at its peak.
Today, Rockville families continue to enjoy the Twinbrook Community Pool, just as they did seventy years ago.
Left Image: Twinbrook Pool, 1959, from the Montgomery County Sentinel.
Right Image: Twinbrook Community Leaders at the pool construction site, 1955, from the Evening Star.
Click here to view the neighborhood brochure for Early Twin-Brook
Click here to view the neighborhood brochure for Geeraert’s Greater Twinbrook.
