Celebrating the Baker Community Center’s 100th anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate its legacy and those who have helped ensure its continued use, where, for 100 years, couples can dance across the floor and teenagers have been able to hang out and make memories.
As the community gathers at 101 S. Second St., to commemorate the building’s anniversary Friday, May 1, it will be an opportunity to share stories for the Baker Community Center Board members, who helped steward the building.
“It’s a vibrant building. You can almost feel it when you walk in,” said Caryl Van Overmeiren, secretary for the Baker Community Center Executive Board, where she has served for the last 36 years.
The community is welcome to attend the anniversary celebration and open house from 4-7 p.m. Friday, May 1, including a string quartet performance, presentation and cake cutting.
Like Van Overmeiren, many board members count their service in decades. Board President John Collins joined the committee in 1985, touting 41 years as a board member.
“We have a lot of legacy,” Collins said.
Collins can trace his family tree to the founders of the building, a gift from “Mr. and Mrs. Edward J. Baker, named for their son, the Henry Rockwell Baker Memorial Community Center, dedicated May 1, 1926.” Many will recognize Mr. Edward Baker by his moniker, “Colonel Baker,” who upon inheriting a large fortune established the community center, as well as the Arcada Theatre and the Hotel Baker.
The building was a living memorial to the Baker’s son, and to the veterans of World War I. A bronze plate at main entrance serves as a reminder, with the names of local veterans of World War I.
John Collins’ grandmother was Dellora Norris, the niece of Colonel Baker, who also inherited money that she put into the community. The Collins Auditorium in the community center is named for John Collins’ father, James Collins, who also served on the community center’s board.
When Colonel Baker founded the community center, he also established the foundation’s trust – an enduring source of financial support that still benefits the building today. Retired attorney and Board Trustee Len Serephin has devoted 49 years to preserving and strengthening this legacy. Over time, generations of Baker Board Trustees have thoughtfully managed the trust to ensure the building continues to thrive for years to come.
It is this fund management that allowed the board to pay for some of the large building upgrades in 2016, improving access, adding an elevator, adding restrooms on the first floor and central air conditioning.
Tom S. Anderson, vice president of Baker Center Committee Executive Board, served as the chair of the property and helped oversee the 2016 work. Anderson said it was this work that has helped propel the building into the future.
“Which I think is wonderful,” said Anderson, retired owner of the Colonial Café, now managed by his son.
Inside the community center, the lounge on the first floor is named for Melvin Peterson, who was the longtime owner of Wasco Blacksmith Shop. He was among the longest-serving board members of the committee, having been appointed by Colonel Baker, Anderson said.
“Melvin would tell us stories about Colonel Baker,” Anderson said.
While they are among those who have managed the building for years, there is also a new generation stepping onto the community center board. Anderson’s daughter Sonia has been nominated to serve on the board and Collins’ niece Amanda Kilinsky recently joined the board. Kilinsky said she is proud of her family’s connection to the community’s history and her moment to step into the committee as she was taught family comes first, but your community is a close second.
“The younger generation has to step up while we can get to know the people before us,” Kilinsky said. “It’s great to give back and help out.”
In 1966, the board established an agreement with the St. Charles Park District, utilizing space in the building for programming and offices on the top floor. Today, many know the building as the site of the park district’s teen center, the STC Underground, located on the building’s lower level.
Since its start, the building has been a special place for the city’s younger population. When it was first constructed, the building had a pool and a bowling alley located in its lower level. The pool closed in the 1940s after maintenance issues, allowing the expansion of more bowling alleys. Van Overmeiren remembers going to the bowling alley when she was a teen.
“Some of the boys, if they knew their friends were the pin setters, they would throw the ball so hard,” she added with a laugh.
The center is available for room rentals, and the auditorium has been used for weddings and other special events. Each week, the auditorium hosts the park district’s ballroom dancing lessons, as individuals learn to fox trot across the wood floor where, years ago, teens attended high school dances.
“We had practically all our school dances there,” Van Overmeiren said, recalling a memory of seeing her friends string crepe paper across the ceiling in the 1950s. “It was a special place to go.”