Cuscaden Pool

In 1937 the city built the Cuscaden Pool, an above-ground, oval pool on 15th Street through the Works Progress Adm. of Pres. Franklin Roosevelt. Designed by architect Wesley Bintz, Cuscaden is one of the few remaining Bintz pools in the country. The two-story red-brick facility now has lockers and classrooms on the first floor. A promenade offers vistas of the V.M. Ybor neighborhood and Ybor City. 

On Aug. 20, 1943, Drew Army Field soldiers put on a spectacular show at Cuscaden pool. The surface of the pool was covered with gasoline, ignited, and when the entire surface was ablaze, forty-five Drew soldiers dove through the flames and swam under water to the opposite end of the pool, where they demonstrated how to break through flames without being burned.

The pool closed in August 1997 due to leaks and old age and sat unused for several years. When the pool closed, the city considered turning it into an inline skating rink, but some community members balked. Even Mayor Dick Greco, who spent part of his youth in Ybor City, pushed for the pool. In 2002, it was ready for revival. The city of Tampa set aside about $3-million to restore the 1937 pool to its original glory.