Swimming pools became popular in Britain in the mid 19th century. By 1837, six indoor pools with diving boards were built in London, England.[5] The oldest surviving Swimming Club in the World is believed to be the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow, Scotland. The Arlington was founded in 1870 and is still an active Club to this day and continues to own its original Victorian building with 21M Pool. After the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 and included swimming races, the popularity of swimming pools began to spread. In 1839, Oxford had its first major public indoor pool at Temple Cowley, and swimming began to take off. The Amateur Swimming Association was founded in 1869 in England,[6] and the Oxford Swimming Club in 1909 with its home at Temple Cowley Pool.[7] The presence of indoor baths in the cobbled area of Merton Street, London may have persuaded the less hardy of the aquatic brigade to join. So, bathers gradually became swimmers, and bathing pools swimming pools.
In the USA, the Racquet Club of Philadelphia clubhouse (1907) boasts one of the world’s first modern above-ground swimming pools. The first swimming pool to go to sea on an ocean liner was installed on the White Star Line’s Adriatic in 1907.[8]
Information comes from www.wikipedia.org