Deep Eddy Pool at 401 Deep Eddy Ave. will close June 22-28 for repairs to a fill inlet valve that broke earlier this year. The mechanism helps ensure the pool fills in time for morning openings.

Deep Eddy Pool is a spring-fed swimming hole with water that maintains a year-round temperature of 68 to 70 degrees. It includes a 10-lane, 100-foot-long lap pool and a 1-acre wading pool.

Before the pool was built, people swam, camped and picnicked at a beach named for a swirling eddy created by a huge rock jutting into the river. The rock was later blasted away. Businessman A.J. Eilers bought the beach in 1916 and built what became the first outdoor concrete swimming pool in Texas. He later added summer rental cottages.

“Deep Eddy quickly grew into as much carnival ground as swimming pool,” according to a 2012 American-Statesman article. “A diving baby (who was really more of a toddler), a man dubbed “the Human Fish,” who ate a banana while sitting underwater, and the Great Lorena and her Diving Horse, who plunged off a wooden ramp into a canvas-lined tank 30 feet below, performed regularly.”

The spot also featured a 70-foot waterslide, a 40-foot diving tower and a series of rings and trapezes suspended over the water. It also had a Ferris wheel, carousel and nightly silent movies, all for an admission price of 5 cents.

The City of Austin bought the pool in 1935. It is drained and refilled several times a week and three on-site wells help keep the pool filled during droughts. The pool has undergone renovations over the years, including a new bathhouse and snack bar in 2007 and a widened deck and fence in 2012. In 2024, the city repaired cracks in the pool walls and installed new LED lights.

Deep Eddy Pool is located at 401 Deep Eddy Ave. Food and drink options are available nearby on Lake Austin Boulevard, including Deep Eddy Cabaret, which was recently featured in the Statesman’s list of Austin’s best dive bars, and Pool Burger.

Deep Eddy Pool is open weekly until Oct. 31, 2026. It is closed every Tuesday for cleaning and maintenance. Lap swim begins at 8 a.m. Recreational swim begins at 10 a.m., and the pool closes at 8 p.m. 

Admission costs $2 for Austin residents ages 1-11, $3 for youths ages 12-17, $5 for adults and $2 for seniors 65 and older. Veterans and children younger than 1 get in free. Prices are slightly higher for nonresidents.