Norris Recreation Center in St. Charles celebrating 40th year

ST. CHARLES – For 40 years, the John B. Norris Recreation Center has been getting area families in shape.

The Norris Recreation Center, at 1050 Dunham Road, St. Charles, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Dellora and Lester Norris donated the 70 acres on which St. Charles East High School sits today and made an initial gift of $4.25 million toward construction of a cultural arts center and a recreation center. The recreation center is named for one of the couple’s children.

The center includes four indoor tennis courts, an aerobics center and fitness area, as well as an Olympic-sized pool that is used by the St. Charles swim team. St. Charles School District 303 owns the property.

“What’s nice is that having the only indoor tennis facility in the Tri-Cities and having the only 50-meter indoor pool, and the fact that we are [an] aquatics, tennis and health club combination, it really serves families in a full capacity,” said Jon Monken, the center’s executive director. “It’s really been an asset to the community.”

Monken, a former St. Charles alderman, has been at the center for 30 years, since it was set up as a nonprofit organization. The St. Charles Park District ran the facility for the first 10 years of its operation, he said.

The complex is continually being upgraded. New lights for the tennis courts soon will be installed, and the school district plans to renovate the pool next summer.

“A couple of years ago, they put in a whole new filtration system and air system,” Monken said.

Ellen Horyn, 70, of West Chicago started going to Norris Recreation Center shortly after it opened. She has an annual membership to the center.

“I really loved swimming, and there was no other place to swim at the time,” Horyn said. “It’s one of the best pools I have ever swam in. The laps are wider, and the water temperature is perfect. I don’t know what I would do without that place.”

Membership has remained steady over the years, Monken said. In addition to providing monthly and annual memberships, the center also offers daily rates, he said.

Norris fitness instructor Patti Turk, 51, has been helping area families get in shape for 28 years. She teaches spin and cardio classes, as well as weight training and a senior fitness class.

“I love helping people become healthy and strong,” Turk said. “It’s very rewarding when they tell me that aches and pains have gone away, or they feel energized. For instance, one of my seniors the other day told me that he threw away his blood pressure medicine. He no longer needs it. His doctor said, ‘See you in a year. Keep going to see Patti.’ When you help people like that, you forget about the paycheck.”

Those enrolled in her classes range from 14 years of age to almost 80 years old. Turk likes that Norris Recreation Center is run as a nonprofit organization.

“They look at the bigger picture,” she said. “They look at the members and what their interests are.”

Both Monken and St. Charles School District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann believe the collaboration between the center and the St. Charles School District has been fruitful.

“It’s been a very good working partnership,” Monken said. “We’ve been able to operate in the black for all of our operational expenses. Our memberships and our program fees make up all our revenues and pay for all our expenses.”

Schlomann agreed the partnership has been good.

“Swimming pools, as an example, are expensive items for communities to support, and the fact that we’re able to do it in a way that the pool is not just utilized by the school district is a much better use of a very expensive resource that is part of this community,” Schlomann said.

Besides students, district employees also use the center at a discount, he said.

As part of its 40th anniversary, Norris Recreation Center has been hosting open houses and offering day passes to people not familiar with the center.

“We like people to get a full understanding of what we offer,” Monken said. “We walk people through and let them see the facility.”

Information about the Norris Recreation Center is available by visiting its website, www.norrisrec.org, or by calling 630-377-1405.