Pickett Pool

Pickett Pool is at 5700 Wayne Ave., 19144.
Phone: (215) 683-3663
Pickett Pool Facebook (last updated 2020)

INDOOR POOL, CLOSED FOR SEVERAL YEARS
Local community organizing to save indoor public pools

Rectangular pool with lap lines
Ladders for pool entry/exit
Depth: 3 to 5 feet
On campus of Mastery Charter School Pickett Campus, but owned by School District

Is this pool ever open to the public? In past years, I’ve tried to visit two or three times. The Department of Recreation website doesn’t indicate that it’s “closed for the season”, and the parking lot is full. So I tried my luck going in today… with the same result as the other three times I’ve attempted to visit since moving into this neighborhood in 1995.
The stairs smell strongly of bleach, so the pool vibe is still there. And signage still indicates “pool entrance “ with Pickett Mastery logo identification, so what is the story…?
I actually laid eyes on the pool this time (on the other side of a door). I don’t remember what happened when I first moved to Germantown that I never even found the pool door; I was just told on the phone a couple times the pool was closed for the season, or intercepted out on Wayne Avenue when I asked passersby where the pool was.
Whenever I bring up this pool to neighbors at Pleasant Playground, it’s met with eyerolls. There seems to be a belief that the pool was only ever for Mastery Pickett students and not for neighbors.

  • Pool entrance sign points to loading dock
    Pool entrance sign points to loading dock
  • Steps descending to pool entrance
    Steps descending to pool entrance at the empty Pickett indoor pool.
  • Unoccupied building at Mastery Pickett School
    Unoccupied building at Mastery Pickett School
  • Empty pool, through window
    Empty pool, through window
  • Scenic entry vestibule to Pickett Pool
    Scenic entry vestibule to PIckett Pool
  • City website does not indicate that the pool is closed for the season but only that it is closed to the public. LIke every other pool on the site today.
    City website does not indicate that the pool is closed for the season but only that it is closed to the public. LIke every other pool on the site today.

POSTSCRIPT:
After sharing this experience in several community groups on Facebook, I heard from Pickett teachers who were asked to make sure the pool area was cleared for repairs and opening, about school administrators who washed their hands of that part of the campus that is not part of their leased property, and from neighbors who had no idea the pool had ever closed to the public. I also learned about the Friends of Philly Aquatics group and their efforts to reopen multiple indoor public pools.