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We are deeply grateful to the late Walter Schroeder.  His vision in establishing the Walter Schroeder Foundation made the Aquatic Center possible. The Aquatic Center was built through a grant from the foundation to the YMCA.

Walter Schroeder's history is indeed an unusual and interesting one.  A native of Milwaukee, he was born on May 19, 1878 to German immigrant parents.  Hard work was part of Schroeder's life from childhood.  At age 14, Schroeder worked as a clerk in the office of the Milwaukee Register of Deeds for $3.50 a week.  Shortly after, he became a staff member of the Milwaukee Legal News and within two years he helped form the Daily Reporter.

By age 21, Schroeder had joined his father in a real estate and insurance business known as the Chris Schroeder and Son Co.  Within a few years Walter had established a record as Wisconsin's most energetic and competent salesmen, and his agency soon became the largest general insurance agency in Wisconsin.  Between 1921 and 1924, Schroeder entered into an exciting program of developing a chain of hotels.  In 1926, Schroeder started his most ambitious multi-million dollar project, the Schroeder Hotel (now the Milwaukee Hilton), which has become a distinguished landmark.

During his lifetime Schroeder, made large and frequent contributions to benefit young people.  The gift from the Walter Schroeder Foundation to construct the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center ensured that one of Milwaukee's most renowned citizens will continue to have a profound impact on the community.

The Schroeder Aquatic Center opened in 1979 and at the time was the only indoor 50 meter pool in the state.  The Milwaukee area competitive swimming community, led by swim team parents John and Anne Hazelwood, recognized the need for a facility of this type and presented the idea to the Schroeder Foundation and the YMCA.  This new pool would be associated with the newly opened North Suburban Branch YMCA (1977), which had the land and would serve the entire competitive aquatics community.  The foundation approved donating the four million dollars, and also set aside another $500,000 to be invested to provide for the long-term maintenance of the pool.  At the time, this was the largest single donation to a YMCA in the world.

The Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center has fulfilled the early expectations for the pool.  The facility has hosted numerous national, regional and state championship competitions.  Its water is still known to be among the fastest in the country and is the site of Mary T. Meagher's former World Record butterfly performances .  In the  30 years since its construction, the Aquatic Center has been the site of countless local, state, regional and national caliber competitions and continues to serve the competitive swimming community play host to nearly a quarter of all USA Swimming splashes in the Wisconsin LSC annually!

read more about the best record swim ever done in the USA - done at the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center.  Be sure to watch the video too - thanks for the link from Eric Newenhouse!

By Casey Barrett // Swimnetwork Columnist

By popular demand, it's time to introduce the Long Course edition of the all-time National Age Group records. Last week's Short Course Yards list drew some fine responses - but also a few grumbles from those noting the absence of long course records. Additionally, friends who grew up racing outside of the U.S. found these records baffling. To them, yards is an irrelevant America-centric measuring stick with times meaningless to the wider world. It's quite a shame as it's a safe bet that Chas Morton was very likely the fastest 10-year-old on earth back in 1982! Unfortunately, appreciation for his age group times appears impossible outside of U.S. borders.

Former Schroeder great Mike Raisler points us to this story on This America Life.  

link to ghost story

It's act two so begin at 21:00

The Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center, Ltd was recently named by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation as a recipient of a $100,000 gift to bolster its mission to secure the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center for future generations of competitive aquatic participants in metropolitan Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the Midwest region. The Bradley Foundation is a private, independent grantmaking organization based in Milwaukee.

The first annual Friends of Schroeder Campaign that began November 12 has gone over the $10,000.00 mark as of December 29th.  The proceeds from the annual campaign will help to offset the expenses related to keeping the Aquatic Center running and to underwrite the costs of athletes who can not afford to fully pay for their training fees and expenses.  The goal for the campaign is to raise $18,500 in donations and pledges by January 1, 2009.

More information and pledge form

The Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center, Ltd. received a $10,000 gift from the M & I Foundation, which is the corporate charitable foundation for the Marshall & Ilsley Corporation and M & I Bank.  The gift helps to underwrite costs associated with the capital campaign to heavily renovate the Walter Schroeder Aquatic Center and preserve this competitive aquatic resource for the community and future generations of athletes and families.