Fassnight Park and Pool

On this day … In 1924, the City of Springfield purchased 28 acres of land from the Fassnight family, who stipulated that the park retain their name. The park was part of early efforts to create a formal park system - Springfield-Greene County Park Board. The Fassnachts immigrated from Germany to the area in the 1860s. They eventually changed it to the “Americanized” version of Fassnight.

In 1927, the first public swimming pool was constructed, along with a Spanish-style two-story fieldstone bathhouse, gates, and a pavilion (designed by Professor Hiland D. Kelley of Southwest Missouri State Teachers College, now MSU). The pool is the county’s oldest and largest! In 1934, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) added the iconic native stone bridges and walls that still cross Fassnight Creek. The city’s growth led to the construction of Parkview High School on adjacent land (previously the Fassnight home) in the mid-1950s, named so because of its “view of the park.” In 1978, the Fassnight Park and Pool was nearly demolished, but public resistance saved the historic pool and bathhouse from modernization.

Fun Fact: It had one of the first softball fields in the area!