St Charles Park District

Park district recalls history as centennial celebration approaches

The community is invited to join in the celebration of the St. Charles Park District 's 100th Anniversary on Aug. 6 at Swanson Pool, 8 North Ave.

On “Dime Day” the St. Charles Park District will roll back prices to ten cents.

After renovations, the Swanson pool opened 73 years ago.

In 1938, one of the first people to take a dip in the pool was Carol Glemza, the administrative assistant for the St. Charles Park District.

She’s also the daughter of Algert Swanson, the guiding park district official who championed the project at a time when public improvement projects could mean the difference between success and failure to a community suffering during Great Depression, according to a press release.

"I remember the day we received the telegram from Washington, D.C., saying that St. Charles had received the grant that would help build the pool," Glemza said in a statement. "That was a very happy day for everyone in town."

 Through business associations, Glemza's father knew many members of Congress in the 1930s.  At $367,000, the grant was one of the largest awarded at the time.

A thin DIME on 8/6 will get you into Swanson's Pool – St. Charles ...

St. Charles Park District’s Swanson Pool Offers Cool Centennial Celebration Pricing

One thin dime.  There’s hardly anything you can get with it these days, but come August 6, ten cents will buy you an afternoon of water fun at Swanson Pool.  That’s when the St. Charles Park District rolls back prices to celebrate their 100th anniversary and the renovation of Swanson Pool, which opened exactly seventy-three years ago.

And just as on that momentous day in 1938, the first person to take a dip in the pool this time around will be Carol Swanson Glemza. Glemza is the Administrative Assistant for the St. Charles Park District and daughter of Algert Swanson, the guiding park district official who championed the project back at a time when public improvement projects could mean the difference between success and failure to a community suffering in the throes of the Great Depression.

“I remember the day we received the telegram from Washington, D. C., saying that St. Charles had received the grant that would help build the pool,” says Glemza.  ”That was a very happy day for everyone in town.”

Through business associations, Glemza’s father knew many influential members of Congress in the 1930s.  One of those contacts, Senator J. Hamilton Lewis, alerted Swanson and his fellow St. Charles Park District Board members Col. E. J. Baker and Bertram Turner, of grants from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that could be used for civic improvement projects.  At $367,000, the grant was one of the largest awarded at that time.  The St. Charles Township Park District, as it was then known, used the funding for several projects in Pottawatomie Park, most notably the development of an aquatic complex that included an Olympic-sized swimming pool, children’s wading pool, and bathhouse constructed from limestone taken from local quarries.

-I used to walk down to the pool to swim every day,” recalls Glemza.  And on hot summer nights, the pool would stay open until 10 PM.  ”It would be packed,” says Glemza, who remembers it being lit up at night for evening swim times under the stars.  ”It was very beautiful,” says Glemza.

Though it served the community admirably for more than seventy years, by 2007, the swimming complex in Pottawatomie Park was in need of restoration, renovation, and remodeling.  Initially designed to accommodate a population of some 7,000 residents, by the early 21st century, the area had grown to more than 46,000, a nearly seven-fold increase, with an equally large demand for increased programs and improved facilities.

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