History
Built in the early 1970's by Hugh Davis and Harold Thomas as a wedding anniversary gift to Hugh Davis' wife, Zelta.
The Blue Whale was Hugh's retirement project, set in a spring-fed pond on their property. Constructed from sucker rod pipe and concrete and painted it blue.
"Blue whales are the kindest of the species" explained Zelta.
Davis intended the whale only for his family, but kids were going to sneak in for a dip anyway, so he hired lifeguards, opened a snack stand, and began to charge a small fee.
The interior of the whale was left open so that swimmers could climb in and out of its grinning mouth to diving boards on the wooden platform on top of the tail.
Tons and tons of sand were trucked in to create a sand beach where concrete picnic tables and seating were constructed around the shore.
By 1988 the swimming park was more than the Davises wanted to handle and the park was closed. Mr. Davis passed away in 1990, his wife, Zelta still lives nearby.
Restoration
The Blue Whale was restored to its former glory in 1997 by donations from the private sector, the Chamber of Commerce and volunteers
You can contact the Catoosa Chamber of Commerce
at: 918-266-6042.
Photo Album
NOTE: for a larger image of the thumb nails below, just single click on the image and a new window will pop-up, click on the "Close" button when finished.
Before Restoration |
After Restoration. |
Picnic Area |
Looking From the Tail |
Looking From the Head |
Looking at the Open Mouth. |
Inside the Mouth. |
Looking at the Mouth, Slide on the left. |
Picnic Tables, Blue Whale in the background. |
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