When Jonzzey’s Was a Pool

A look back at an aquatic Peter Pan and 80 years of swimming

You’ve probably spent time in Jonzzey’s, the campus gathering place for those in need of a smoothie, sandwich, or ten minutes of emergency study time before an exam. But did you know that a full-sized swimming pool once existed in what is now the popular snack break spot?

The Kimball Student Center, containing Jonzzey’s, the bookstore, mail center, and dance studio, was originally the gymnasium of Southern Seminary. It contained the swimming pool on the bottom floor, a basketball court and physical education classroom upstairs, and a sun deck.

Construction of the pool began in May 1925 and was finished in September of that year, according to a history of Southern Seminary written by Margaret Durham Robey, former president of the same school. The full gymnasium was completed eight years later.

The 1948 Southern Seminary Catalogue states that at 60 feet long and 25 feet wide, the pool met the National Swimming Association’s requirements to hold official meets and set official records.

The catalogue describes the pool as a “modern, sun-lighted and thoroughly ventilated swimming pool, with the most modern filtering, sterilizing, heating and cleaning apparatus, (which) gives all-the-year swimming to the students.”

In 1960, the school put on a production of Peter Pan from the pool. The actors performed their roles on the small side walkways, as well as in the water! The following pictures show staging, backdrop, costumes, and bits of performances from the non-traditional play.

On May 22, 1956, tragedy shook the Southern Seminary campus and community when fifty-two year old Doris Stearns, professor of English and Latin, drowned in the pool. Few details concerning her death were reported at the time according to Von Canon librarian Wyatt Winnie, who researched the incident.

The swimming pool was discontinued during the 2008–2009 academic year due to prohibitive costs of maintenance. “The building was nearly a century old,” said Stephanie Hardy, Director of Library Services and University Archivist at Southern Virginia. “There were just too many repairs and too much upkeep needed.”

The pool’s removal coincided with the remodeling of the gymnasium into the Kimball Center as it is now appears on campus. Jonezzey’s opened in its place on February 6, 2009.

Southern Virginia student Kinsey Cluff and Assistant to the Registrar Tabitha Martin both recall using the pool as children. “It was a heated pool,” Martin said, “so it was always really warm… it was open to the community, so people could come who weren’t SVU students.” Cluff, for example, remembers taking swimming lessons there.

These photographs show Southern Seminary students enjoying the pool in 1971:

Photos courtesy of the Von Canon Library