The J. B. Taylor Pool at Sterling Place

Back before the city of Watertown debated the necessity of three pools, J. B. Taylor, the ex-husband of Emma Flower Taylor, saw to it that the children in the city had a place to swim, opening up his own pool to the public in the early 1910s when he purchased the Sterling Mansion which later home to Holy Family School and currently Immaculate Heart Central’s Primary School.

In July of 1910, the father of John Byron Taylor, President of Northern New York Utilities, made the purchase of Sterling Place for his family after selling the Helen E. Van Brunt property on Washington Street, later known as the White House Inn, which Taylor had purchased only two months prior as a family home.

J. B. Taylor, acting on behalf of his father when purchasing the property, noted in a Watertown Daily Times article

The property has been in the Sterling family for so many years and from time to time such portions have been sold, that it will require some time to make the necessary searches and the formal sale will not be made until these are completed.

Having finished the proceedings, J. B. would open the pool in Sterling Place to the public. “Every pleasant day, the pool is thrown open to the children. One hundred or more boys use the pool on ‘Boy’s Day,’ while almost as many girls go there the three days of the week when the pool is reserved for them,” another WDT article noted.

In 1914, Mr. Taylor was forced to issue new rules for the swimming pool as some young people using the pool abused the privilege.