By Kali Morgan, Summer 2024

Kendrick Pool (a/k/a The Bathey, or The Rec, or The Bathy) is located at 5822-24 Ridge Ave., 19128.
Phone: (215) 685-2584
Kendrick Rec Facebook
Kendrick Rec Website

Walled-in rectangular pool
Depth: 3 to 8 feet
Stairs required for entry to pool deck
Ladders and steps for pool entry/exit
Belongings allowed on pool deck
Full sun/warm water

#MyPhillyPoolTour2024
JULY 13, 2024
Kendrick Pool on Ridge Ave in Roxborough is the most unique pool I have visited so far this season.
The rec center takes up a city block and looks like many others in Philadelphia, but the pool itself is a fortress completely surrounded by walls (possibly harkening back to the creation of pools as a public baths I wonder?).
Kendrick Pool was built in 1927 and remains standing with metal lettering above the iron doors on the corner identifying it as a PUBLIC SWIMMING POOL.

Inside this fortress, which requires stairs to enter (unless there’s a secret back door that I am not aware of), is a unique maze of accommodations. These start with a large all-genders changing area (presumably a throwback to the days when there were separate boys’ and girls’ days at the pools) with multiple benches and a wall of screws that may have at one time been a place to hang towels. This area is surrounded by a cinderblock wall that gives it a penitentiary locker room vibe except for the clear blue skies above.
Past the open-air changing cell is a non-gendered restroom with multiple stalls, then an all- gender alcove with three continuously spraying showers you must pass through before you get onto the pool deck.
I was allowed to bring my bags inside the walls, in eyesight of the pool. Other adult swim guests also had their personal bags and belongings.
The rectangular pool is a nice size: Lengthwise on par with many other pools in the city.

The pool goes up to eight feet, so you can actually dive in the deep end (which serves as an “adult end” during the day, provided there are enough guards to open it, I am told by a Roxborough-resident swimmer, who’s swum here their whole life). I was here for adult swim, though, so there was no rope separating shallow from deep, and people could swim laps freely.
The pool seems to have been designed for adults: There are adult-sized steps with an adult-sized hand railing in the three-foot shallow end, which makes this pool easier to get in and out of than those that only have ladders for entry/exit. No wheelchair lifts, though I cannot imagine how someone would get a wheelchair onto this pool deck.
Although the brick wall surrounding the pool remind me of O’Connor Pool (or to a lesser extent Northern Liberties Rec), the brick is not nearly as well kept, and the painted rules and cinder block additions add an industrial vibe.
Adult swim on Saturday night had a good 25 people- a lot for adult swim in Philly in my experience.
I’m told that the pool fills up with children during the day and sometimes maxes out, so come early.

#JumpInPhillyPols2025

JULY 11, 2025

Still love the deep end so much O brought along a group of family and friends for free swim. It went swimmingly once all the cats were herded the secret entrance stairway discovered and the bodies cooled down.