 Ed Gorman:
Cascade Industries Incorporated (NJ, U.S.A.)
Founding President 1950
"We had a huge bunch of consumers who'd just finished the Second
World War and they wanted to have the good life. Gunite pools were so expensive,
only the rich could afford them. The Cascade [package pool] could be sold
to every family. That was the big appeal. Everybody could have one of these
- it only sold for $2,500 or $3,000, installed. "We started [selling
through] the Spiegel Mail Order Catalog. That's how we really got going
in '57 or '58. Spiegel flew their team out to watch us put a pool together
in just one day. They were so excited about it, they thought they'd sell
1,800 units in the first year. They sold 58. Hey, 58 pools was a lot for
us in those days. They kept us in the catalog for two years - the outside
back page in full color, and a black-and-white page inside. You can't do
better than that. We introduced the Steel Pool (Galvanized Sheetmetal Wall
Panels) in the early 1960's and through the efforts of Export Manager Ted
Barrie, you could now buy a CASCADE Steel Wall pool in 28 countries world-wide,
but still sold a whole heap of pressure treated wood wall pools (Tanalised)
in the USA right through to the late 1990's."
 The History of Swimming
Pools in the USA
Story:
Rebecca Robledo (edited for brevity/expanded for content)
Thanks to the gunite and hand-packing concrete
processes, the price of residential swimming pools plummeted between the
mid-'40s and late-'50s, but they continued to remain out of reach for many
homeowners in the Northeast and Midwest, where harsh weather conditions
necessitated more expensive construction.
Several pioneering manufacturers reached out to this remaining sector of
the middle class by producing and packaging easy-to-install wall systems
with all the necessary components. As an added benefit, this method of installation
required fewer men and a simpler building process than any in-ground pool
to date.
The first company to offer such a package,
Cascade Industries, opened its doors in 1951. The company offered three
choices of wall configurations: 12 by 27 feet, 16 by 34 feet and 24 by 40
feet, all with depths starting at 3 feet and sloping down to 5, 7 or 8 feet.
The use of concrete blocks for the walls, however, did result in one problem:
The varying sizes of blocks could leave the end product as much as 6 inches
off the original plans - meaning the pool liner would not fit.
These early packages did present their
share of problems: The filters cost extra, and the fittings and drains used
for concrete pools didn't work. Cascade's founders soon looked to the boating
industry for components that could be adapted to vinyl-liner pools.
To popularize the availibility of home swimming
pools, Cascade formed commercial arrangements with popular swimming champion
of the day, Larry (Buster) Crabbe (Olympic Gold Medallist) and young USA
Swimming Champion (and MGM movie star) Esther Williams, who lent her famous
name to a range of home swimming pools.
Within a few years, Cascade and Esther Willams Pools began offering pools with walls made of relatively
new products: Aluminum, Galvanised Steel and Pressure-treated Wood. Cascade
offered its 16 x 32 foot wood-walled model through the 1954 Spiegel catalog.
The package contained panels, lumber bracing, liner, coping, a tank for
filtration, four gate valves, 70 feet of 1 -inch pipe and 40 feet of 1-1/4-inch
pipe, plus fittings, instructions and a layout kit. It sold for $995.00
plus the retained war years Federal Tax of 5%. Soon after this, Heldor Industries
came out with a poured-concrete/vinyl liner package pool.
Esther Williams - now "Esther Williams
Pools" was soon to follow in 1956 with her concrete-block package vinyl
liner pools. The floors were finished with sand before crews placed the
20mil (.500mm) liners over the structure. The coping had no track-and-beading
system to hold the liner in place, so builders wrapped the liner around
the pool top.
Larry (Buster) Crabb was a well-known
swimming figurehead in the USA - representing the USA in both the 1928 -and-
1932 Olympics, winning GOLD for 400m freestyle at the 1932 games. New Zealanders
over 50 yrs old may remember his role as FLASH GORDON in the Saturday Morning
three-penny picture-house serials
After acting or starring in 102 "flicks"
- many of them "Westerns", Buster retired from the movies in 1949
to go into the swimming pool fultime business with CASCADE - promoting his
"Buster Crabbe" line of swimming pools.
Over the ensuing 30 years - until
his death on 23 April 1983, Buster was active in the promotion of CASCADE
pools - spending many hours at shopping mall promotions, and static displays
at exhibitions, and in his "spare" time, Buster devoted his time
to promoting health and exercise at one of his many Christian Youth Camps
in NY State. He married only once - to Virginia - and that lasted until
his death over 50 years later!
In the early 1960's, CASCADE INC - mainly
due to the the determination of Sales VP SeymourTheodore (Ted)  Barrie - expanded into overseas countries. Japan, and the Phillipines
in the west, and United Kingdom and Europe in the east.
By the late 1960's you could buy a CASCADE
"Buster Crabbe" pool in 28 countries - and you could guarantee
the quality would be the same wherever you were located. Dealerships were
commenced in England, Ireland, Channel Islands, Holland, Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy and Malta. Cascade held regular Dealer Seminars,  The CASCADE family expanded
to New Zealand, Australia, and the Pacific Region in the 1970's becoming
truly a GLOBAL COMPANY. In the 1990's the "CASCADE" name and US
Trademark is owner by the HUGHES CORPORATION in the US and "CASCADE"
is a trademark of Cascade Industries Limited and Aquatech in New Zealand.
Today, in the new millennium, the majority
of inground vinyl-liner pools in the USA and New Zealand have the tough
galvsteel wall systems, and time has proven that these seem to have excellent
lasting and durability qualities, nearly 50 years on.
 |
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THE MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID
An Autobiography
By Esther Williams
Simon & Schuster, 1999 (320 pages, $26.00)
Hardcover, ISBN: 0-684-85284-5
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY/General |
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swimming pools 
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