The Blackburn College pool is officially closed.

Blackburn College’s Board of Trustees made the decision during it’s June meeting. The board voted to approve it’s latest budget, which included no money to operate the pool.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have much of a choice,” trustee John Lapp said. “We had to make some tough budget choices, and we just couldn’t justify keeping the pool open when we had to make several cuts.”

Construction on the pool began in the early 1970s and was completed by students in the Work Program in 1980. The pool has never been used extensively by Blackburn students. Ironically, when the pool was completed, it was discovered it was too small to use for competition.

Lapp was one of the biggest supporters of the pool. When the possibility of closing the pool was first announced last January, Lapp made every effort to see if the pool could be saved.

“There are a number of alumni who wanted to see the pool continue to operate,” he said. “We will have to spend some money on the pool each year, even if it’s closed. Unfortunately, there was no way to keep the pool open from a financial standpoint.”

Earlier this year, Blackburn received a lot of publicity after announcing it was suspending its football program. The elimination of the 20-year program brought mixed reaction from both the college and the community.