Hayward Plunge

In the grip of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), established by the federal government under the Roosevelt administration, began funding construction projects across the country to put masses of unemployed people back to work. Building of the Hayward Plunge was such a project. The massive year-round indoor swimming facility was built in 1936 in Memorial Park with WPA funds.

Opening ceremonies included a display of aquatic talent from a championship swim team from San Francisco. The Boy Scouts of Southern Alameda County, who served as ushers, were rewarded the very next day with an afternoon of free swimming.

The facility is now run by Hayward Area Parks and Recreation (HARD), and offers swimming lessons for all ages, lap swimming, water exercise and more. There is an unsubstantiated legend about a swim coach who kidnaped and murdered his students in the woods near the creek behind the building. The facility is on some lists of haunted places in California, but those around here just know it as a great place to swim.