Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum

Introduction

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Operated by the University of Alabama Department of Museum Research and Collections, the Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum explores the transportation history of the city and region. Its exhibits feature photographs, artifacts, interactive media displays and other forms of digital media. It is located in the former Queen City Pool House, which was built in 1943 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 for its Art Moderne architecture and association with the social development of the city. The museum is named after Mildred Westervelt Warner, who, along with her husband David, spearheaded the effort to build the pool in honor of their son, who died in a swimming pool accident when was a teenager.

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The Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum explores the transportation history of Tuscaloosa and the region. It is housed in the historic Queen City Pool House building, which was built in 1943.

Backstory and Context

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Queen City Pool House

Queen City Pool House was built using funds from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which was one of several federal programs established in the 1930s and 1940s to provide jobs to millions of Americans during the Great Depression. By the time the pool was built in 1943, the park already already been created in 1933 using funds from another federal program called the Civil Works Administration. Included in the park was a wading pool, but the community wanted a swimming pool, especially the Warners, who established a foundation for the effort. With the help of the WPA, the pool complex was completed in May 1943. It included the large swimming pool, the pool house, a wading pool with an Art Deco fountain, a grandstand next to the pool, and a stone footbridge (it is not clear if the bridge still exists).

Local architect Don Buel Schuyler, who studied under famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, designed the pool complex (along with a number of other buildings in the city). The pool house is circular in shape and features a circular clerestory with a flat roof and two rectangular structures. The pool, which is filled in, is 165 long and 60 feet wide. The fountain features multi-layered vertical lines and curved ends. It also had colored lights which, combined with the water, created a visually striking effect.

Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum

The pool operated until 1989 when safety issues prompted its closure. It was at this time that the swimming pool was filled in concrete. The pool house was left unused for many years. In 2005, renovation of the building began to convert it into the museum as a result of a grant the city received from the Alabama Department of Transportation. The museum finally opened on December 13, 2011.

Sources

"About the Museum." University of Alabama. Accessed December 21, 2020. https://transportation.museums.ua.edu/about.

Ford, Gene A. & Betz, Melanie A. "Queen City Pool House." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/92f92aca-c139-46b9-8e7a-00329b288b24.

Thomas, Peter R. "Mildred Westervelt Warner Transportation Museum." Encyclopedia of Alabama. September 27, 2018. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-4039.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Queen_City_Pool_and_Pool_House.jpg