For more than 50 years, residents of Birmingham and across Alabama were treated to the joys of the Cascade Plunge and Pavilion.

When it opened in 1923 at 6815 2nd Avenue South in East Lake, it was far more than a typical community swimming pool. In fact, one article referred to it as a “Pleasure Resort.”

Click through the gallery at the top of the story to see photos of the Plunge through the years.

Construction began in 1922 and the pool closed in 1970s. By that time, it was more of a community pool than a resort.

When the privately owned Cascade Plunge opened on June 7, 1923, it included an array of luxury features. The 80-by 220-foot pool was the largest of its kind in the South and could accommodate 3,000 swimmers at a time, according to an article in The Birmingham News.

The pool area was flanked by covered grandstands where visitors could watch a variety of water and diving shows or parents could oversee children while sitting in the shade.

In addition, the Plunge featured a pavilion with 2,000 steel lockers for men and 1,000 private dressing rooms for women. The women’s dressing area was “equipped with individual showers, with beauty parlors, hair dressing rooms, hot air hair drying process, electric method and all other conveniences to make the place up to date,” according to a 1922 article in The Birmingham News. The men’s locker room had a barber.

The resort also had a ballroom that was later renamed the Cloud Room. It hosted dances and live entertainment. The banquet room and dance floor covered 80-by-125 feet.

The Plunge also offered a variety of water shows to entertain guests. Shortly after it opened, it featured shows by Lottie Mayer and her troop of diving girls.

Admission in 1941 was 35 cents for adults and 20 cents for children, according to ads from the time. It was a stop on the streetcar line so it stayed busy during World War II when gas was rationed.

In the early 1950s the park hosted a “Miss Cascade Plunge” beauty contest, with winners going on to compete in the “Miss Dixie Queen of the South” pageant in Daytona Beach, Florida.

As swimming and water sports became more popular, the Plunge was host to numerous team swim and dive competitions.

For a time after the pool closed, it was used as a spring-fed fishing lake stocked with bream and catfish, according to Bham Wiki.