Home to the
Plains Piranhas Swim Team, this is a six lane, 25 metre outdoor pool. It was built, mostly through charitable donations, over 30 years ago, in the early 1980s, after three local boys drowned while swimming in the Clark Fork River. In 2011 the pool faced a crisis when facing closure due to lack of funds for a new sand filter. After failing to win funds in the "We Hear You America" contest sponsored by Readers Digest, they managed to raise over $70,000 (must have been some fancy sand filter) through private and commercial donations and the pool remained open, even receiving a new coat of paint that year.
Edwin Leonard Johnson was born on January 24, 1885 in Center City, Minnesota. He passed away in Plains on September 11, 1973. Married to Louise (Jackson) Johnson, they had one child, Robert, that is known.
"Edwin Leonard Johnson came to Plains, Montana,
in 1906, and has been continuously associated
with the First National Bank of Plains, and as its
cashier has helped promote its prosperity and its
strength as one of the leading banking institutions
of Sanders County
Mr, Johnson was born at Center City, Minnesota,
January 24, 1885. His people were pioneers in Min-
nesota, where his grandfather. Jonas Johnson,
homesteaded a farm more than half a century ago."
From Archive.org
The pool is the centerpiece of the E.L. Johnson Pool Park on Oak Street, occupying a full city block between Willis and Boyer Streets. Other facilities include tennis courts, skateboard park, playground, wading pool and a basketball court.
Above the entrance to the pool are the words:
E L JOHNSON
MEMORIAL
POOL