Recent Article from Northwest Indiana Times...

The Hammond Civic Center
was close to Hammond High School on the southeast part of downtown Hammond. It was here that a lot of kids learned how to swim. In junior high school, I was dependent upon Larry Armstrong's parents to take me to swimming lessons on Tuesday nights. Nick Powell was our swimming instructor. He taught thousands of kids to swim here. And after each swimming lesson, we would all come home smelling like chlorine and wet dogs.

Every year the circus would show up at the Civic Center and play to loud, obnoxious adolescents, many of whom would either charm their parents into taking them or threaten to run away from home if they didn't make it to the circus.

The kids taking swimming lessons at the Civic Center always had early notification that the circus was coming to town. Nick Powell would tell his students, "No swimming next week. The circus will be here." That meant only one thing: our pool was being turned over to the circus seals.

After our next swimming lesson, we would all come home smelling like chlorine, wet dogs, and seals.