GLEN ELLYN – Glen Ellyn's "crown jewel" is now a local and national landmark.

The Glen Ellyn Park District's Lake Ellyn Park has been named a historic landmark by the village of Glen Ellyn, along with being named to the National Register of Historic Places, the official list of the nation's historic places worthy of preservation.

"As all of us feel, it's the crown jewel of Glen Ellyn," Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Lee Marks said following the Glen Ellyn Village Board's approval of landmark status for Lake Ellyn Park at its Feb. 27 meeting.

The commission in December 2016 unanimously recommended that Lake Ellyn Park be given landmark status. The Glen Ellyn Civic Center and Stacy's Tavern are among other landmarked properties in Glen Ellyn. Marks presented a plaque designating the park's landmark status to Glen Ellyn Park District commissioners Kathy Cornell and Chris Wilson.

"We are very honored and pleased to become a landmarked park and historic building in beautiful Glen Ellyn," said Cornell, in accepting the award.

Work wrapped up in 2016 on the restoration of the boathouse, which was built in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project. The WPA program was a federal assistance program designed to put unemployed Americans back to work during the Great Depression.

The project included replacement of the boathouse’s roof and the addition of a flood protection wall. Landscape enhancements and the installation of a standalone restroom near the park’s playground also were part of the project.

The Park District in October 2016 began the process of obtaining landmark status for Lake Ellyn Park, Park District Executive Director Dave Harris said.

"The Park Board of Commissioners certainly recognized and understood the importance and value Lake Ellyn Park and the boathouse holds within the community," Harris said. "The Park District, when it undertook the process of renovating the boathouse and making park improvements, one of its goals was to restore the property back to its original state or try to be respectful of how the building and the park were developed in 1937. The local landmark designation helps reinforce and support the efforts that the Park District took to improve the property."

He also is pleased the park has been named to the National Register of Historic Places.

"It recognizes the significance of the property and the boathouse," Harris said. "We've always felt it was an important component of Glen Ellyn, and I think most people support that. This kind of reinforces that feeling and again recognizes the effort that the Park District achieved when we started this process with the master plan in 2011 in trying to determine what the community wanted and what direction they wanted to go with the property and the boathouse. Achieving these two designations really reinforces those efforts and highlights how significant this property is within Glen Ellyn."

Lake Ellyn Park is the most used park the Glen Ellyn Park District operates. According to a 2012 community survey, the park is used by 70 percent of all Park District households.

The district is moving ahead to finish improvements at Lake Ellyn Park now that a $400,000 matching grant has been released by the state. The Open Space Lands Acquisition and Development grant had been put on hold by Gov. Bruce Rauner when he took office.

The district was first awarded the grant in 2014, but it was suspended shortly after Rauner took office in January 2015. The grant was among $26 million in grants to 75 parks and recreation projects in the state that Rauner froze as part of an executive order reevaluating funding.

The grant will allow the district to finish the other improvements included in the Lake Ellyn Master Plan, including replacement of a playground originally built in 1991, installation of a fishing pier in the northwest corner of Lake Ellyn and reconfiguration of paths.

Installation of the new playground is set to begin April 3. The current playground will be removed by the nonprofit group Kids Around the World and donated to a less fortunate community.

The improvements also include installation of benches and bike racks, vegetative restorers, interpretive and landmark signage, and landscape improvements. The vegetative restorers will be placed in Lake Ellyn to help further clean and filter the water.

The district hopes to finish the improvements before the annual Lake Ellyn Cardboard Regatta that kicks off the village's Fourth of July activities.