Harleysville Community Center

History of the Harleysville Community Center

Today, the Harleysville Community Center serves as the host for a wide variety of activities including swimming, baseball, soccer, summer camps of baseball, a YMCA day camp, the Harleysville Jaycees Country Fair Days and the annual Chicken BBQ.

The Harleysville Community Center has expanded dramatically over its 60+ year existence. What began as a 14 acre plot holding a single baseball field and a Scout Cabin (the original part a converted chicken house), now covers over 31 acres and includes six little league baseball fields, two full size baseball fields, several soccer fields, three pavilions, two pools and a Scouting Center.

The game of baseball played a major part in the origins of the Harleysville Community Center.  During the early 1900s, Harleysville was part of a baseball league that played its home games on a diamond next to the Lower Salford Elementary School.  In the 1940s, a more competitive league, the East Penn League, was formed and Harleysville became a part of this league.  The Harleysville Athletic Association bought a parcel of land to build a baseball diamond with a grandstand/stadium. The baseball field, now named the Vic Alderfer Memorial Ball Park, is still in use today.

In the early 1950s with Harleysville no longer fielding a team in the East Penn League, the Harleysville Athletic Association dissolved, resulting in the birth of the Harleysville Community Center.  Following a tragic drowning in a local creek, the interest of having a public swimming pool in Harleysville gathered momentum.  A group of interested citizens traveled to see other community pools first hand.  In 1955, the Harleysville Lions Club voted to support the project and made a contribution toward the construction of a swimming pool. In addition to donations, the Community Center sold non-interest bearing bonds in the community to finance the project; many of the bonds were then forfeited by civic minded community members. With volunteer workers helping to keep the costs down, including hand-digging, the original pool complex was built for $45,000.  The Harleysville Community Center proudly opened its pool in 1957.

This picture, most likely taken during the early to mid-1960s, shows the original pool with both one and three meter diving boards.  The three meter board was removed due to safety concerns.  The original baseball grandstand, built in the 1940s can be seen behind the bathhouse.

A free standing refreshment stand was added along with a covered patio during the late 1960s.  The Harleysville Community Center added its second pool in the early 1970s.  The eight lane, 25 meter pool has served the Harleysville Swim Team quite well over the years.  The additional pool also provided much needed free swimming space as the original pool had become very crowded as the pool’s membership continued to grow rapidly.

During the 1980s/90s, along with the normal maintenance, major projects included the replacing of filters, piping, sections of decking and the building of a separate ticket booth/main entrance.

In 1992, a violent storm tore the roof off the massive wooden grandstand that had hosted baseball fans since the 1940s.  The Community Center rebuilt a modified grandstand/storage center in 1993.

The Harleysville Baseball Association continues to make improvements to the baseball complex located on the upper portion of the property.

During the spring of 2011, HCC embarked on a multi-phased/multi-year renovation project to update the swimming pool complex. The following improvements were completed over a three-year time period:

• New peninsula with a 12-foot wide shark umbrella to provide in-pool shade;
• Water jets and a “Baby Dome” which provides an endless shower of water on children in the wading pool;
• Zero entry ramp, in-water steps (both to the upper pool) and an automated lift (lower pool) allow for unassisted swimmer access in and out of the water; these improvements made HCC compliant with the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);
• Resurfacing of the wading pool and replacement of the concrete patio area between the pavilion and the snack stand;
• Total replacement of the lower pool filtration system;
• A double, multi-colored flume slide, added to the deep water of the upper pool, will give our members, both young and old alike, years of fun.
• For the most recent improvements to the HCC pools, please check out our Home Page…

A Tribute to the original HCC Board of Directors:

Many, many thanks to the original HCC Board members who had the courage and the foresight to take on such a huge undertaking…and…the courage and the foresight to keep an eye toward the future as they expanded the Community Center’s acreage to what it is today. Nestled in the heart of our community, the Community Center has and continues to play an integral part in bringing together people of all ages; but most importantly, the Community Center continues to provide a safe place for our community’s youth to have fun while developing into productive citizens.

Harleysville Community Center officially incorporated as a non-profit in 1956:

As a non-profit organization, Harleysville Community Center is governed by a Board of Directors consisting of a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and five Board Members, all of whom are volunteers. The Board is charged with the task of overseeing all happenings of the Center. The Community Center is not a part of the Lower Salford Parks/Recreation System, it is a private entity. Over the years the Harleysville Community Center and Lower Salford Township have formed a wonderful working relationship. A number of years back, an agreement between the two entities ensured that should the time come when the Community Center was no longer able to function in its present arrangement, the Township would take over the complete operation of the Harleysville Community Center. Within the arrangement, the Township pledged to assist the Community Center by providing help from the Township’s road and park crews. It is the goal of both entities to maintain the current governing arrangement for many years to come.

From its inception, 60+ years ago, HCC has relied on community donations, pool memberships and facility use fees to finance its projects and required maintenance of facilities. We appreciate all the community support and continued membership to help keep the Harleysville Community Center an important place for family and friends to gather and share memories.

A special Thank You goes out to our Community partners – Lower Salford Township, Excel Communications, Harleysville Bank, Harleysville Jaycees, Harleysville Lions and Harleysville Rotary for their ongoing support of HCC.