When I was a young girl growing up in Cranbury in the late 1950’s, only two families in town had in-ground swimming pools in their backyards.
By Jo D. Andrews, Cranbury
To the editor:
When I was a young girl growing up in Cranbury in the late 1950’s, only two families in town had in-ground swimming pools in their backyards.
There wasn’t any place for children to swim in those days unless we chose to sneak onto Mr. Updike’s property and take a dip in the irrigation pond, or jump into Brainard Lake.
Of course our parents didn’t allow us to do those things, but summers belong to children and children know that swimming is the best part of any summer day, so we took our chances because we just had to swim.
In those early days, there were some families in town who were lucky enough to have beach houses along the New Jersey coastline. Others rented houses at the shore for a few weeks in the summer like we did, but the joys of jumping into a cool refreshing pool and learning how to swim free-style, or doing that first cannonball off the diving board had eluded most of us until one night, more than fifty years ago, a miracle happened in Cranbury.
It began at a twelve couple Party-Bridge Club held that month at the home of Stephen and Jackie Bencze at 52 South Main Street. Amazingly, the topic during cocktails and hors d’oeurves on this particular evening was the children of Cranbury needing a safe place to swim during the summer months. One father in particular believed that every child in town should have the opportunity to experience the joys of swimming. He suggested to the others present that they each put up ten thousand dollars in order to break ground on a community swim club for Cranbury.
In 1959, $10,000 was a lot of money to come up with, and some families couldn’t contribute initially, but the seed had been planted that night and so it was decided by the ten original families that they would begin an outreach program to find other people in town who might be able contribute initial monies for the project. The plan was that once it got started, other members would be invited to join for a less nominal membership fee and yearly dues. It was a risk for sure, and it took quite a commitment at first, but Cranbury has always been a town filled with people who believe that with enough commitment, intelligence, and hard work almost anything can be accomplished for the greater good of the community, and so the project began.
I still remember the night my father sat my brother and me down to tell us the good news. He said a group of parents, us included, were building a Swim Club. It was to be called, “The Cranbury Swim Club,” but families from Hightstown could also join. Dad said not only would we learn how to swim at this pool, but we would make new friends and meet school mates there during the summer. As you can imagine, we were ecstatic! He told us there would be a snack bar that would serve lunch, dinner, and snacks every day, and when fathers came home from work they would come to the pool for a quick swim and meet their wives and children there. On special nights, families would even swim until it got dark and the lights came on in the pool! He said our lifeguards would be in high school and college and that we would already know most of them because they had been our babysitters or neighbors.
The manager was to be, Mr. Ken Eiker, who was a high school teacher during the school year, and managed the pool in the summers. He was a kind giant of a man. Mrs. Erickson, who taught us Science at Cranbury Elementary School, would run the snack bar with her family and they would feed us really well! Anyone remember Mrs. Erickson’s strawberry frappe? It was scrumptious! There was also to be a Board of Directors who would keep the place in good order. My dad was on that board, along with some other men and women who always seemed to show up at the pool every time there was a crisis with the pump, the filtering system, or a clogged toilet. I don’t know how this group of parents pulled it off. It certainly couldn’t have been an easy project to complete, but I think they wanted to give something very special to the families of Cranbury and they did.
Through the years The Cranbury Swim Club has meant so much to the children and townspeople of this area. Just ask anyone who has ever been a member and they will tell you how much fun we all had, and how many new friends we made swimming and playing together through the summer months at the pool. Yes, it is true, times have changed and more people have in-ground pools in their backyards now, but really, there is nothing like meeting your friends at the Swim Club and swimming for hours at a time with the music playing and that hot summer sun shining. Plus, what better place for children to join a swim team than at a Swim Club where they are surrounded by cheering friends and family?
A few years ago my husband and I moved back to Cranbury after being away for more than forty years. My daughter and her family began visiting us on weekends and soon Cranbury began working its magic on them too. Last June they also bought a house in Cranbury and one of the first things they did after moving in was to join The Cranbury Swim Club. Yes, they joined the very same pool that my parents started with nine other families in town one night at a Bridge Club in 1959.
This past summer, as I watched my six year old grandson dive off the diving board, and my three year old granddaughter hold her breath and go under the water at the pool for the first time, I was filled with a deep sense of the best kind of nostalgia. I could see my parents, Clyde and Louise Sechler, in their great-grandchildren’s joyful eyes as they swam in the pool with their friends and I knew my parents, plus all the other families who founded the pool, would be especially grateful to those who have kept this wonderful institution going all these years.
You see, nothing has changed much at Cranbury Swim Club except that it could use your support right now. It is still a wonderful place to swim and spend a summer day. The snack bar is there, the lifeguards are still in high school and college. Parents, plus lots of empty nesters, are there reading summer novels in the shade of the trees until the Adult Swim whistle blows, and the pool lights still come on for special evenings of fun. So if you are interested in joining, please contact The Cranbury Swim Club via email @cranburyswimclub.com.
You can also pick up a membership application at Cranbury’s Town Hall.
Or, if you don’t swim much anymore, but would like to support the children who really need the pool to be open next summer, perhaps you would consider making a donation to help keep Cranbury Swim Club afloat? After all, everyone knows swimming is one of the best ways to support the health and well-being of children and adults. And as my grandson, Owen says, “Once you learn how to swim and pass your swim test at The Cranbury Swim Club, swimming will be your favorite activity in the summer, Know why? Because it will make you the happiest.”

