Article updated: 1/15/2013 2:48 PM

Lake Ellyn Boathouse might be restored to its heyday

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Lake Ellyn Park in Glen Ellyn has been a community gathering spot and recreation space for more than a century. The park district's master plan for the park recommends several improvements, including renovations to the 75-year-old boathouse that would restore its historical features.

Mark Black | Staff Photographer

Lake Ellyn Park in Glen Ellyn was established shortly after the park district was incorporated in 1919, and the boathouse constructed in 1937 as a warming shelter for ice skaters.

Courtesy OF Glen Ellyn Historical Society

The Lake Ellyn Boathouse was constructed in 1937 as a project of the Works Progress Administration.

Courtesy of Glen Ellyn Historical Society

The 75-year-old Lake Ellyn Boathouse in Glen Ellyn could undergo some $581,000 in renovations, proposed as part of the Glen Ellyn Park District's master plan for Lake Ellyn.

Mark Black | Staff Photographer

A limestone fireplace of the boathouse was sealed off in the 1960s.

Mark Black | Staff Photographer

A 1907 plat of survey of the area around Lake Ellyn shows how the former property of the Glen Ellyn Hotel was subdivided into lots intended for homes. But the lots never sold, and much of the land eventually became Lake Ellyn Park.

Courtesy of Ron Aubrey

Lake Ellyn Park in Glen Ellyn has been a community gathering spot and recreation space for more than a century. Plans for an overhaul include renovations to the 75-year-old boathouse that would restore its historical features.

Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

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Glen Ellyn's venerable Lake Ellyn boathouse and the surrounding park need a makeover. But the focus is to get rid of the more recent improvements and restore the historical features. "We're basically bringing this building back so this can be a place where children and adults can come, so they can understand what Lake Ellyn was like in the 1930s," said an architect working on a plan for the property.