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Mecum just sold this '69 Dodge Hemi Daytona for $3 million.

Historic Archives excerpt:

Swimming pools were introduced by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in the 1880s. In the following decades, the Y began offering their "Learn-to-Swim" classes, which was an organized program featuring certified instructors. It should be noted that after disease, during this early period drowning was the leading cause of death for children and adolescents, so it is not surprising that enrollment was popular with classes often filling to capacity. It is also important to note that those pools became a major source of sustainable revenue for the Y. But in 1906, while working at a YMCA a Northwestern medical school graduate, Edwin Foster, tested the water and discovered it was contaminated. Back then, contamination of water was linked to a number of life-threatening diseases such as cholera, typhoid, meningitis, polio and various infections. In fact, similar to the Covid pandemic of 2020, fatal epidemics had closed down a number of cities. So the discovery of pathogens in the pool waters at the Y caused great concern - not only for health reasons, but as a threat to one of the Y's greatest revenue generators.

Dr. Gale writes about how the YMCA as well as other public pools began to drain and refill the pools about once a week to fight the problem, and this process continued well into the 1920s. Some of these pools were as large as 45,000 gallons making the process onerous and expensive. The YMCA National Council also recommended the use of sand filters, which had been proven effective. By 1910 the first pool recirculating pump was installed and by 1913 chlorine chemicals were being added to the water. Part of the issue of swimsuits during that era was that synthetic fibers had not been discovered yet, so suits were typically made from either wool or cotton. These fabrics slowly disintegrate over time, releasing fibers, which continually clogged these new developed filtration systems (by way of example, look at the lint filter after doing a load of cotton fabrics.) In addition, unless washed properly, swimsuits can also carry the same pathogens that were of concern. Maintaining a large supply of swimsuits that were properly cleaned and stored was not only logistically challenging, but financially as well.

In 1926, the American Public Health Association (APHA) published the first guidelines for swimming pool management. These guidelines were updated every one to three years, as needed. Those guidelines recommended that all males first strip naked followed by a soap bath, then, remain completely nude while swimming. Unadorned, undyed tank suits were recommended for females. The APHA pool management guidelines were not intended to promote nude swimming, but instead, to keep pools sanitary and that meant keeping the water disinfected, which was best accomplished by disallowing the use of swimsuits. Consequently, male nude swimming was recommended in every edition until 1962. APHA guidelines as well as health ordinances at the state level were typically directed by physicians, sports professionals and water sanitation specialists; thus, their recommended safe practices became codified into mandates by virtually every public school, municipality and youth association. It should be noted that during the entire era, females were always provided swimsuits. However, in no literature or published guidelines is the disparity of required swimming apparel between genders ever discussed. This evidences that how during that period, female modesty was an important part of the culture whereas modesty for males was not a consideration.

The mandated baths and full nudity resulted in the design of some interesting technologies. During an NPR radio interview, a journalist told me of an infamous shower device described by one man that had attended a Chicago school during that era called a "ball washer", and she queried me about whether I knew of such water devices designed to wash the boys' balls. I told her my research had not uncovered anything of the ilk. A research associate, O. Caipora, then sent me the following photograph showing the plumbing arrangement of these "ball washers". According to the man that used it, the boys would line up nude then proceed down the "shower runway" getting a powerful spray of water not only from the sides, but underneath so as the genitals and anal region would be sprayed as well.

During the early 20th century, chlorine was difficult to use effectively because managing the pH had to be precise enough to kill the bacteria. In 1939 a discovery came that was called the "breakpoint in water chlorination" Chemical testing was then something pool managers could do more easily. But due to the onset of WWII, automatic chlorination was not widely used until the late 1940s.

There were several things that occurred simultaneously by the early 1960s that reduced the need for the mandated nudity rule. Urban sprawl meant most people swam in pools as opposed to polluted waters, automatic chlorination was controlling the level of pathogens, most swimsuits were being made out of synthetic fibers, polio was conquered and medical professionals now had curative medicines that could arrest the outbreaks of diseases caused by pool water. Thus, in 1962 APHA finally dropped the nude swimming recommendation because it was no longer for health reasons. This is an important event as it underscores the real and justifiable reasons male nude swimming had been mandated for over half a century.

But despite APHA dropping the health guideline and that there were no longer any health reasons for mandated nude male swimming, public schools and the Y continued to require nude swimming through the 1970s and some even into the 1980s. Research shows the reasons were two fold. First, as most people are aware, bureaucratic institutions are resistant of change, even when there are no reasons for a continued practice. "It's just the way it has always been done" was a very common reason cited by coaches and administrative staff of the era. Second, news articles reveal that a number of Boards of Education ruled that nude male swimming should continue despite no health reasons for it solely due to the cost to the school districts to provide and clean swimsuits for the boys, which, by the way, they had already been doing for girls for decades. Again, gender equality was not a concern in the early 1960s, and the general belief was that the boys should "buck up" and be manly about it (for further research, please see the published news articles and syndicated columns of Dear Abby and Ann Landers posted elsewhere on this site). One such article was published in a 1961 edition of the Appleton Post. It dealt with a petition wherein parents were demanding that the policy mandating that all boys swim nude be lifted. As part of the debate, the school district conducted a survey of other public schools, which showed that 20 out of 31 school districts contacted had policies requiring boys to swim nude while girls did not. With survey in hand, the school board ruled that the nudity policy for the boys would remain in effect. That survey provides some evidence that about two-thirds of all swimming programs still enforced nudity policies for the boys swimming classes in 1961.

Yup, the Eau Claire Y had this rule, although I cannot recall the reasoning. Our swim instructor wore a suit, though. I distinctly recall being aware of how much slower swimming was when I was wearing a suit at lakes.

Hello, dolly!

PBS is running the Simon & Garfunkel Central Park concert as a fundraiser vehicle -- what a fabulous show that was. Paul playing an Ovation!

On edit, Artie's voice is a miracle of nature.

I just discovered that it's prime rib night at one of my favorite saloons -- that might be my splurge.

I appreciate the gesture and the effort, guys, but I'm really not a truck guy. Something sleek that handles well, please.

Bappy Hirthday, good sir! Is this the milestone 60 you mentioned recently, or is that still off in the future?

And with new slacks, to boot!