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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 26, 2026
From: Friends of Legion Pool
The Mayor and Council of the City of Athens
September 19, 1952
In response to your request for an opinion as
to the duties and responsibilities with respect to the request made by
the Allen R. Fleming Post of the American Legion [Legion Pool], my
opinion is as follows:
The major portion if not all of the property
proposed to be sold by the Legion to the University of Georgia has been
dedicated to public purpose. Under these circumstances, it can not be
conveyed except upon approval of the Judge of Superior Court; and his
approval is contingent upon the proceeds of the sale being so utilized
under Court supervision as to secure other public facilities equal in
convenience, utility and value to those proposed to be disposed
of.
- James Barrow, Athens City Attorney
Legion Pool has been dedicated to public use
since it opened in 1936 and it remains so today. The Allen R. Fleming
post of the American Legion gifted nine acres of land to the city to be
used for this pool. Veterans of WWI built this pool for the children and
community of Athens, and as a memorial for their fellow soldiers who
died in that war. The Veterans who made it back home to Athens brought
with them a profound appreciation for life and service.
They built the pool with
financial donations and construction volunteers from the Athens
community, and with “New Deal” WPA funds. Athens middle school
students held classroom fundraisers and donation drives. The people of
Athens who donated funds for and worked toward this common purpose did
so with the understanding that they were creating something permanent
for their City, as expressly provided for by Georgia law. To this day,
the people of Athens have continued to value and cherish Legion Pool for
the very reasons our WWI Veterans built it. They wanted to give the
community a reliable space for meaningful social connection, and they
succeeded. Legion Pool has always been irrevocably dedicated to public
use as a result of their contribution, which means it cannot be used for
any purpose other than the swimming pool that has been in use for the
past 90 years.
This history is the reason UGA has admitted
uncertainty as to whether it owns Legion Pool. UGA, according to its
Working Group Final Report, “believes” it owns the Legion Pool
property and “believes” it is not required to continue operating
the pool.
We are the Friends of Legion Pool. We are over
2,400 strong, and include UGA students, staff and alumni, and Athens
community members. We grew up at Legion Pool. So did our kids, our
parents, and for many, our grandparents. 90 years spans many
generations. To those inclined to dismiss our views as “sentimental” –
we view speaking out against the destruction of a community asset like
Legion Pool, and calling upon our elected officials to preserve and
protect this community asset, as a matter of civic duty.
We are saddened to learn that demolition of
Legion Pool is underway and cannot remain silent as UGA administrators
move to bulldoze this historic and culturally significant landmark,
citing dubious and ever- changing grounds for doing so, and without
making any meaningful effort to examine or articulate its legal right to
do so.
Legion Pool is dedicated to public use, is
eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places and,
as was announced on February 25, 2026, is included as one of the Georgia
Trust for Historic Preservation’s ten
Places in Peril sites.
Since July 2025, UGA has presented its proposal
for redevelopment of Legion Field/Legion Pool — to demolish Legion Pool
and replace it with an amphitheater and 70 additional parking spaces —
as overwhelmingly supported by students. This proposal was published and
defended numerous times in UGA controlled outlets, most notably UGAToday
and WUGA.
Over the last six months, our group of
volunteers known collectively as Friends of Legion Pool has worked
tirelessly in an attempt to foster dialogue by presenting detailed
counter-arguments to the “facts” UGA was citing to justify this
decision.
Our requests for dialogue and detailed
counterpoints have been repeatedly ignored or dismissed as irrelevant or
invalid. Despite being held during final exams, at an inconvenient time
and a location far from UGA’s main campus, the large audience and
numerous speakers at the public hearing on December 8, 2025 were
overwhelmingly against demolition. None of the UGA staff present
indicated they had ever visited the pool, indicative of a top-down
decision far removed from Legion Pool users.
On February 10, 2026, UGA revealed an updated
redevelopment plan. The project now includes four sand volleyball courts
and a reduced number of parking spaces, with no amphitheater, “allowing
more space to remain dedicated to outdoor gathering and student
activity”. The sudden change of plan is surprising — especially since it
was not publicly disclosed until after the initial iteration of
the plan was approved by the Board of Regents.
Once again, UGA students, faculty and staff, as
well members of the Athens community, have been deprived of any
meaningful opportunity to raise questions or concerns regarding the
future of this historical community resource. True transparency requires
openness before irrevocable decisions are made. UGA’s approach erodes
public trust and leads many to believe that UGA was simply checking
boxes enroute to a preordained result.
We think it’s fair to ask whether UGA, which
defines its values as “integrity, engagement and service” and claims “a
formal responsibility to utilize its personnel and resources to improve
life in Georgia,” is prepared to uphold those values when it’s not
convenient to do so, or when doing so goes against some preconceived
land use objective. These stated values should most certainly be upheld
when the failure to abide by them so negatively impacts the very
community UGA claims to serve.
Demolition is set to begin in earnest on March 5.
"It may appear quixotic in this time
when we are experiencing so many degradations
of our country and world, to care about a
community pool. Yet we have to begin where we are
to stand against such degradations. We have to
fight for what’s good and right
and beautiful, even if the machine stands
against us."
- Sara Baker
True transparency requires openness before decisions are locked in—not after. UGA denied the community an opportunity for genuine dialogue and collaboration. This approach erodes trust and signals that public input was never intended to shape the process. Find Friends of Legion Pool's point-by-point rebuttal here.
Welcome Friends of Legion Pool!
THANK YOU FOR THE STUNNING SHOW OF SUPPORT AT MONDAY'S PUBLIC HEARING!
UGA held this hearing at an extremely inconvenient time and place for students having exams and staff and faculty preparing for the end their semester. In spite these challenges, the auditorium was packed. A third of all speakerone
speaker - a UGA administrator tasked to read a PR statement
- stood to support the demolition. EVERY SINGLE OTHER PERSON
spoke from the heart
s were students, another third were staff and faculty; the remainder were from the local community. Of the roughly 40 speakers, only about why they want to see the pool restored and opened through the year. It was an electrifying display of how a diverse community can unite to defend a place they love.
See the highlight reel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3-BOHNc5zA
(Full length and
super-distilled versions of the hearing are also available.)
BUT the fate of the pool is still uncertain . . . Please help us by contacting
President Morehead
THIS WEEK. It is his decision to try and move forward with destruction OR to restore the pool and give students the chance to use it. You can also email
Mr. David B. Dove , an Athens native serving on the Board of Regents . As evidenced in the hearing, the data being used to make the case for demolition is flawed, and students are the most enthusiastic advocates for this special place. We can have a better greenspace AND a restored pool.
Friends of Legion Pool want historic Legion Pool repaired and
maintained to the level such an historical, beloved place deserves. We have also been lobbying to extend the
season so that today's students can enjoy
the same experience that generations of Bulldogs have enjoyed.
It was built in or around
1935 by Allen R. Fleming Post #20 of the American Legion using federal
grant funding from the Works Progress Administration, a New Deal agency
that employed millions of workers to carry out public works projects
across the country during the Depression.Touted as one of the nation's the largest and most
beautiful swimming pools, the Legion Pool and
associated facilities were designed by architect C. Wilmer Heery of
Atlanta and erected at an approximate cost of $75,000. When the
University of Georgia offered to purchase the pool and the surrounding
acreage from the American Legion in 1952, Judge Henry West of the Clarke
County Superior Court reviewed the offer and noted that Legion was “one
of the largest outdoor pools in the South,” and that it was in “more or
less the nature of a trust,” built to serve the citizens of Athens. The
sale was finalized two years later. As one of the few remaining WPA
pools, Legion Pool and its attendent buildings are unique. We need to preserve them for future generations to use and study.
Legion Pool has continued to be a
beloved community gathering place for students, faculty and staff as
well as community members for close to ninety years. As the testimonials
here prove, Legion Pool offers true community and wellness. There is no
better place for students to increase their well-being---they just
need it to be open for them. There is no reason to destroy an
historic, beloved, community gathering place to serve students. They
would be well served if the pool was open when they were on campus.
You might notice that this website is a little retro! That's because we
have been fighting to save this pool since 2012!
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