Anthony & Sylvan Pools history

1952 California Pools & Spas forms.

1965 New York and New Jersey suffer water shortage and first pool-filling ban.

Bernard Forester took over the company in 1973 and began to diversify beyond the seasonal swimming pool business, acquiring a wide range of businesses that he placed under the corporate shell of Anthony Industries, which he operated out of the Los Angeles, California, suburb City of Commerce.

In 1974 Anthony acquired Hilton Active Wear, a Chicago company that produced bowling shirts, athletic jackets, and other imprintable items.

Finally in 1986 Ariadne Australia Ltd. succeeded in acquiring a controlling interest and installed former auto executive Eugene A. Cafiero as its chairman, chief executive officer, and president.

Five electronics companies were sold by the end of the year and the selloff continued in 1990.

It also began to take on the business of rehabilitating older pools, an area that it had previously referred to independent contractors. As a result of such changes, Anthony improved its net earnings to $6.6 million in 1991 despite a further drop in revenues to $370 million.

The company returned to its previous growth mode in 1992 when revenues topped $400 million and net profits reached $8.5 million.

In 1995 the subsidiary contributed just 12 percent of the parent's total revenues of $544 million.

In 1996, Anthony Pools and Sylvan Pools merged operations and is known today throughout the nation as Anthony & Sylvan Pools.

The company, which established its headquarters in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, changed corporate parents a year later when in May 1997 Ohio-based Essef Corporation acquired General Aquatics and in the process inherited Anthony & Sylvan.