colleen8
2 post s
22-Aug-2007
8:25 PM
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Does anyone remember swimming in what seemed to be the largest pool in the world? I "walked over it" during a recent visit to Dayton.
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welshrose
1 post
27-Aug-2007
6:39 PM
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What a great shame.Old River was such a wonderful place for families to go to any day of the wek. They even had a baby pool,(just for infants) .And the koi, how much fun was it to hang over the side of the bridge and throw popcorn down to them. Those days of good clean fun are all gone.
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Valgruber77
1 post
13-Sep-2007
7:29 AM
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Yes I remember those days! My mother worked at NCR and this was how we spent our Saturdays or Sundays in the summer! I loved Old River! I was in elementary school during that time and I am now 49 years old. I live in Winston-Salem, NC, but I do relish the Old River Days!
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JackK
1 post
29-Sep-2007
5:51 PM
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Old River Park is still there. If you had a relative that worked at NCR you can walk around on the grounds. The minature golf course is atill there as well as most of the buildings and the boat docks. The pool is all grass but can still be invisioned if you try real hard.
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Laurel59
4 post s
15-Nov-2007
1:14 PM
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I can still remember swimming and trying to see where my sister or mom and dad were, it was that big, not imaginatively big, just ginormous! There were some fountains there too. Over near a band shell I think. We were little, like 4 and 5 and couldn't resist climbing in, like everyone else and walking in circles laughing and laughing.
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Mike C
19 post s
24-Dec-2007
10:47 AM
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I use to want to be invited to Old River pool so badly when I was a child. The man across the street from me worked at NCR. His son was a little older than me. I always hoped he would ask me to go to the pool with him since we sometimes played in the same group of kids. He never did. You are right, the pool seemed so big and so fancy. After I grew older ( never grew up you know)I see the pool in a whole different light. The memberships became available to a lot more people towards the end of the life of the pool. In wasn't interested in joining then. Sort of sad to see it go like that. Just like Dayton, slowing going away.
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kbarr11
2 post s
3-Feb-2008
4:58 PM
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My dad worked at NCR and we used to beg to go to Old River to swim,picnic, etc. I, also, remember feeding the fish popcorn. What a great time. I recently found some old pictures of NCR history and Old River which really thrilled me.
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historymom
2 post s
26-Mar-2008
4:27 PM
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Did anyone else ever attend the "Toolmaker's Picnic"?
I was raised in an NCR family. My parents and my grandparents met at NCR. My father was a toolmaker and every year they held the "Toolmaker's Picnic". What a great day! I was very young, but it seemed to me that Old River went on for miles and miles. The best part of the day is that we were given some type of "ticket" and we took it to one of the shelters and I got to pick out a present. Wow! How great was that? It's very sad that NCR is just a shadow of it's former self.
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Mark1957
5 post s
10-May-2008
8:49 AM
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What wonderful memories at Old River. My dad taking us there to swim and then later when I could ride my bicycle and go with my buds. Diving for pennies... I liked Old River better than Oakday because you could wear a mask. Many years later I was able to take my kids before it closed. Remember the giant checker boards and the pieces you lifted with a metal hook to move around the board? Outdoor movies on the lawn. July 4th fireworks? Canoe rentals? What a cool poolhouse..the metal basket frames for your clothes and the numbered claim discs on elastic bands... the disinfectant foot pool you had to walk through on the way out of the poolhouse? The way it smelled?
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kbarr11
6 post s
10-May-2008
7:28 PM
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Just reading the last post on Old River really gave me a great visual memory - I too, remember the huge checkers and the whole pool scene, especially the disinfectant everyone had to walk through!!! Great times. My dad transferred to Wichita, Kansas in 1972 with NCR and I ended up work for them also in 1973 - 1975. The company is no longer in business in Wichita either!
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richard
1 post
21-May-2008
3:54 PM
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When did OLD RIVER PARK close? What is left of it.
Is it still NCR property. Do you need a pass to walk on it?
Last Edited on 21-May-2008 3:55 PM
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AllenN71
2 post s
30-May-2008
1:52 PM
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My late father (6/13/1925-3/2/2008)was pretty high up in NCR and we kids freqquented Old River. So I was pretty flabbergasted to find that only about 2/3 of that big mast on the centerwalk was sticking up out of the ground and there were soccer practice goals around it.
The pool was circular and had a radius of about one city block. The side nearest the bathhouse went from 3ft
deep to 6ft deep at the centerwalk. The half on the far side went from 13ft deepat the walk to about 6ft at the outer edge and i think that the various rescue squads used to practice SCUBA there. The 13 ft depth was for the high
dive
The diving boards - another thing that is becoming a memory as the ninnies who cant take responsibility for their own selves burn up the phone lines talking to lawyers - were of course located on the centerwalk, and many a 12-year-old (including Yours Truly) proved his manhood off that high dive, which from the top looked as if one were about to jump off the Empire State Building.
Notably absent were middle aged drones swimming laps like hamsters on an exercise wheel. No "adult swims" either, ifn you were not a kid at heart then you really had nothing to do in that pool,OMG WAS IT EVER THE MOSTEST FUNNEST!! Once I got my car we'd go near every day, and a boy with three guest passes for Old River never lacked freinds in the summer, let me tell ya.
And you could rent a canoe and paddle around the lagoon orget lunch at the canteen. there were giant checkers and shuffleboard, which at the time was played by more than geezers. There were also special concerts and such.
At Old River there were "no ranks", ie: the sons of janitors played with the sons of systemss engineers and a shop mechanic might hob-nob with the President of the whole shebang. What a wonderful concept.
I have lately come up with an idea that maybe some of
us who post over on the 60s/70s pages ought to try to get together at Old River (or what's left of it) for a "Mother and Child Reunion" (Dayton and vicinity being the mother ofn us all). If anyone thinks this is a good idea email me at: nfanmail@aol.com
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