Before the Boathouse

The Boathouse began as a skating shelter built on the lake shore by Lenox Avenue. These Board of Commissioners Meeting Minutes from October 1, 1923 record the approval of construction of a warming house for skaters proposed by the Superintendant of Parks.  The Board minutes also record that the Board was looking for used rowboats.

This newspaper article, published in the Glen Ellyn News and The Glen Ellyan on October 26, 1923, announces the building of the skating shelter in what was then called The Park.  The article mentions that the structure will also be used to shelter boats that may be rented.

This newspaper article published in The Glen Ellyn News and The Glen Ellyan on January 18, 1924 reports on the amenities of the skating house: a stove with a well-stoked fire, refreshments, storage for shoes and extra clothes.  Superintendent Mark Woods is quoted as saying that there are more people skating than last year and that it might be necessary to enlarge the shelter.

The first mention of the idea of rebuilding the skating house was in the minutes of July 18, 1932, but the idea did not become a possibility until the Board meeting on December 3, 1934.  The precipitating event was the decision of the Village Board to widen Lenox Road which would necessitate the destruction or move of the skating house.  The structure was not in good enough repair to move, so discussion turned to the possibility of securing workers through the Illinois Relief Commission to build a new structure.

The decision to hire an architect to design a Recreation House was taken at a Board meeting on January 7, 1935.  The architect, Frederick G. Walker was present at the next meeting on February 4 and requested to start on plans for the new structure.  During the rest of 1935 the Board discussed successive sketches and the undertook the application process for securing workers from the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission.  However, before the application was completed, the I.E.R.C. was disbanded and replaced by the W.P.A. and the application process had to begin again in August.

During the September 3, 1935 meeting the Board gave the architect, Frederick Walker, approval of his plans for the Recreation House and instructed him to draw up final plans.  Mr. Walker had worked on several buildings in Glen Ellyn, such as the candy store on Crescent and the large Tudor home on the corner of Hill and Park.

Apparently not everyone was pleased with the plans to build the Recreation House.  These minutes from the October 7, 1935 meeting of the Board record the protest of residents of Lenox Road regarding the construction of a larger structure.  The Board decided to talk to the High School about locating the Recreation House at the south end of the lake on their property.  The minutes of the November meeting record the failure of those discussions.

At the meeting of August 17, 1936 the Board made a final decision to locate the Recreation House on the west side of Lake Ellyn close to the existing comfort stations.