Washington Park Pool Demolition Starts This Year
To be replaced by splashpad? Parks plans first public meeting on future facility in June.
Washington Park pool. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Milwaukee County Parks will work with the public this year to plan and design a new aquatic facility for Washington Park.
The department is planning to demolish the approximately 60-year-old deep-well pool and wading pool. The 2026 budget includes funding for demolition, as well as planning for a replacement facility. Parks is currently looking for a consultant to help with planning and the public engagement process, according to public bidding documents.
Like other pools that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened, Washington Park’s pool has been closed since then. The county lacks both the lifeguarding staff and funding to open and maintain all of the aging pools that dot the parks system. In 2025, the department finished a comprehensive plan for the aquatics system that identified Washington Park as one of five pools that should be permanently closed, including those in Grobschmidt Park, Wilson Park, Jackson Park and Hales Corners Park.
Reopening pools that have sat empty for years can be costly. A recent assessment of Hales Corners Park Pool found it could take up to $600,000 in repairs to reopen. The department spends considerable resources maintaining old and broken infrastructure, and rarely has an opportunity to create new amenities.
Parks wants to replace the Washington pool with a new “destination splashpad,” which has been generally described as a mini water park. Splash pads require less staffing, making them cost-effective alternatives to wading pools or deep-well pools.
The parks public engagement team will work with the consultant to determine what design elements the local community would like to see in a destination splash pad. From that process, three conceptual designs will be developed.
A preferred alternative will be selected following public engagement by August and submitted to elected officials, according to public bidding documents. Parks plans to hold the first public meeting in June and have a final cost estimate for the project prepared by early 2027.
The parks system is under considerable financial strain and has a long list of buildings, pools and other assets that it can’t afford to continue maintaining. The department plans to begin demolishing other assets across the system this year. The department is taking down underused or neglected assets, hoping to free up funds that would have been spent on maintenance and make way for something new.
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