Swimming was one of the original Olympic games in 1896.
‘Upon the Bluff high over the Willamette where the spires of learning reach up to the sky’, swimmers and swimming have been part of campus life since before Howard Hall opened its doors in 1927. But industry and landfill have since pushed swimming out of the river. The Howard pool a long-time mainstay. Whether engaging in a recreational swim or competitive swimming, students have been practicing freestyle, butterfly, breaststroke in the Howard Hall pool for years, with occasional interruption. For example, when snow collapsed the roof in 1937; and also the time the pool froze-over (February) and then too the building fire (March) in 1949. (https://sites.up.edu/museum/march-19-1949-howard-hall-fire/) Generally, a place of calm restoration. During the years 1982-1989, former University President Rev. Thomas Oddo, C.S.C., often spent late night hours in the pool swimming in solitude.
Photo gallery, click on photo to enlarge:
Interesting how the appropriate attire has changed since 1940! What men and women wear in the pool today would have been scandalous by 1940 standards.