End of an era: Shallenberger Pools closes after 43 years
Norma Shallenberger admits that she had no idea how to run a business when she and her husband, Terry, started Shallenberger Pools in 1971.
She learned on the fly, and that was enough to propel the business on Route 119 in Bullskin Township through 43 years of service on its way to becoming a staple in the Connellsville area.
But after nearly half of a century, the pool construction and retail business — which laid the groundwork for Sandcastle water park — closed its doors Aug. 2.
“Through the years you just learn on your own. You get the basics and you go from there,” said Norma Shallenberger, a native of Connellsville. “I never dreamed of having a swimming pool, let alone running a pool business.”
It was sometimes trial and error until they got things right, but through hard work and perseverance, the Shallenbergers turned their upstart business into a reputable one.
The business started almost by coincidence.
Terry Shallenberger had worked for the Doylestown-based Sylvan Pools for a dozen years when he and Norma relocated back to the Connellsville area in 1970.
He had the skills to install pools but at the time was building sidewalks and driveways. When he entered a pharmacy in late 1971 wearing a Sylvan shirt, the pharmacist asked Terry if he could build a pool for his home. He could.
“We were the beginning of pools in the backyard (in the Connellsville area) because people just didn’t have them,” Norma Shallenberger said. “Back then, people came knocking.”
Shallenberger Pools constructed its first pool on Moyer Road in Bullskin Township in the spring of 1972, delayed by an accident in which Terry broke his back and neck after falling 45 feet from a tree.
He was told he would never walk again, but he recovered. And he came back as strong as ever.
Norma Shallenberger entered the fold when the couple decided to open a supply store.
“We had to have chemicals to put in that first pool,” she said.
Here is where the trial and error came in.
After pumping water from a nearby creek to fill the pool, they dumped in a tub of chlorine.
The chemical reacted with the iron in the creek water, turning the water a dark brown.
“We had a grand opening with a pool that looked like it had coffee in it,” she said.
Lucky for them, the blunder was overshadowed by the increasing intrigue for residential pools. They got their next job that very same day.
The couple ran Shallenberger Pools out of the coal bin of their home on Route 119, just down the road from where the business sat for the last 15 years.
When business took off, they need more room. They built an extra unit beside their home, then another, then a building at the site that would become Chat-A-Who-Chee Square in Bullskin Township.
And finally, in 1999, they built just north of the Route 119 and Pleasant Valley Road intersection. The now-empty building will be rented for medical purposes, Norma Shallenberger said.
“I’ve been known to have just about everything someone needs for a pool,” said Norma Shallenberger. “(Customers) know to come to Shallenberger’s because we’d have it all.”
The Shallenbergers installed pools — both concrete and fiberglass — for the likes of the Pleasant Valley Country Club and Summit Inn resort.
But the crown jewel on the Shallenberger Pools résumé is a place where residents throughout the Pittsburgh region have gone to cool off on hot days for 25 years.
“We were a very small company, and it was a very big job,” Norma Shallenberger said.
Shallenberger Pools began excavating the site of the Sandcastle water park in West Homestead in October 1988.
They had seven months to construct the pools for the park.
“We had never done anything like that. It was disastrous,” she said.
“Some days I wasn’t sure if the guys were going to come back alive.”
The team, led by Terry Shallenberger and also including sons “Tuffy” and Bret, would leave for work at 4 a.m. and not arrive home until 11 p.m., Norma Shallenberger said, working long days and facing harsh conditions while clearing the overgrown land and turning it into a recreation area.
“We did the hard work. We were just a little company, but Terry was just so positive that it could get done,” she said. “I’ll never forget Terry’s face when he brought the signed contract in. He was so excited.”
Shallenberger Pools did the groundwork for the park — the landing pool for the big waterslide, the lazy river and a baby pool.
“When our hometown floats in the lazy river, they can think of Shallenberger Pools,” Norma Shallenberger said, jokingly.
Terry “Tuffy” Shallenberger is the founder of Shallenberger Construction in Bullskin Township and the majority owner of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds professional soccer team.
Bret Shallenberger followed in his parents’ footsteps, starting San Diego Fiberglass Pools and servicing the Greater San Diego area.
“We never had anyone give us anything,” Norma Shallenberger said.
“It just took long days and hard work to get it where we got it. We didn’t work for recognition. We worked for our family and to try to improve our lives.”
For the Shallenbergers, Shallenberger Pools was more than just a business.
Norma Shallenberger said that at one point, she was putting in 12 hours a day at the store, seven days a week.
With her new found freedom upon retiring, she plans to spend more time with her family.
“(Terry and I) both came from nothing, and we learned through hard work.
“You appreciate things more when you don’t have them handed to you,” she said.
“This was our life, our hobby — this was everything.”