Joliet preservation commission checks out Nowell Park

JOLIET – The Joliet Historic Preservation Commission goes on the road Wednesday when it meets for a tour of Nowell Park.

The commission wants to check out the old Nowell Park pool building in case the Joliet Park District plans to destroy it for new development, Commission Member Hal Carlson said.

"The whole purpose of the meeting is to see what the building is like and what it's like inside," Carlson said. "If it's a significant building, it could be worth saving. We're just not sure what the park district wants to do."

Neither is the park district, said Executive Director Dominic Egizio.

The park district is considering building an East Side recreation building with a “fitness component” that very well could go in Nowell Park. The Nowell Park facility was included among projects to be funded in a $19.5 million bond referendum that was approved by voters in November.

"It makes sense that it would go there," Egizio said. "And, if it does, that [pool] building would come down."

Egizio said park officials will show the building to the commission. But he was not aware of any historical significance to the structure.

The meeting starts at 5:30 p.m. at the park, which is at Mills Road and Illinois Route 53.

The Nowell Park Pool was closed years ago. In past decades, Nowell Park was the city's East Side pool, while Inwood Pool was on the West Side.

The Inwood Park pool also was closed. But the park district later built the Inwood Recreation Center, which has an indoor swimming pool.

Egizio said a number of improvements have been made at Nowell Park in recent years, including a new playground and revamped tennis courts. But a pool is not in the plans for Nowell Park.