History of the Danville Boat Club

The Walnut Hill Boat Club was active in the 1920’s. The houses in the area were primarily cabins for use in the summer. The house that later became the Boat Club was a 2 story house built on the northern part of the D. A. Robbins Walnut Hill subdivision. This land was not as valuable without much lake water in the front of the building. If you get a ladder and go into the kitchen and climb up into the attic, you can see 2nd floor windows from the original house.

In 1928, you could purchase a membership for 5 payments of $24 per year. “Annual dues shall not exceed $16 for 1928.” Membership was limited to 236. The Commodore was A.J. McGrath, Vice Commodore was C.F. Carter. Secretary was H. S. Robbins, & Gordon Telling was the Treasurer. “It shall be the policy of this Club to keep a waiting list of desirable members who have the opportunity to purchase a membership that may be for sale.” The Carter family must have been active in the area as the picture below is of a plaque mounted on the concrete wall near the back steps going down to the lake.

On October 1, 1930, the Walnut Hill Boat Club rented the premises at the present location of the Danville Boat Club, but those were tough times. The owners of the property, D.A. and Ora M. Robbins were forced to go to court to regain their property from the Walnut Hill Boat Club. Col F.W. Ward, Sheriff, served a writ on Carl Schermayer, President, in December of 1932. The club was more than $1,100 in arrears on their payments. The Judge said the lease was null and void and ordered possession of the premises back to the Robbins. The water company had installed a new dam in 1925 replacing the 1914 structure, creating the lake.

Later in the 1930’s, a group gathered together to lease the premises from Mrs. Ora Robbins, for a club to be known as The Danville Boat Club. The date of incorporation was September 20, 1937. They elected Gale Pate as the first Commodore of the new organization for the 1937-38 membership year. The building had a coal furnace in the basement as the coal chute door is still visible by the kitchen door. It was later converted to an oil furnace as evidenced by expenses for oil. The club originally had 10 boat slips and an excellent beach.

In 1946, Kenneth Swartwood was the Commodore, it was decided that the group would try to raise the funds to purchase the Boat Club property. A long list of contributors loaned the club from $50 to $250 for the $5500 that Mrs. Ora Robbins wanted for the property. John Willett of the Palmer American National Bank handled the transaction for the club on February 25th of 1946.

John Pleume of the Clearwater Tank Company was the chairman of the drive that raised $2500. His firm loaned the drive $3000 to complete the amount needed to make the purchase. The club paid back the contributions over a ten-year period with interest, and on September 10, 1955, the final payment of $8.26 plus interest of 15 cents was paid on each $50 loan to the building drive. In September of 1955, a committee had raised funds more than sufficient to pay off the mortgage. “It was thought advisable that a three-man board of trustees be elected for the purpose of administering the excess of these funds” At the 1955 annual meeting, the membership voted to transfer “the Club real estate in trust as set out in the proposed Trust agreement and proposed Amendment to the bylaws, so the real estate would be owned by a three member the Board of Trustees.

The mid 50’s were happy times for the club. It was the social center of Danville during those years. 1957 was a major turning point for the club. The minutes from the February meeting of 1957 show that a membership of 100 existed. Slot machine revenue in August of 1957 was $1658.25 (about 25% of the monthly income) and the juke box netted $23.15. The July 1957 minutes show a payment of $760 to the IRS for the tax on gaming and amusement devices. In October of 1957, the club was temporarily and possibly permanently restrained from deriving income from coinoperated gaming devices. No one knew how the club could exist without the revenue from the ”slots”, but the members of the Boat Club worked hard and the club continued to improve its financial condition. Annual dues were raised to $50 with a $10 application fee, which was increased to $75 in 1957.

By 1959, silt buildup in the lake had rendered the beach and boat slips almost unusable. In 1957, the minutes show there was already a discussion to construct a swimming pool for the cost of $12,000.

In the days before air conditioning, the fan above the old entry blew hot air on the dancers on those hot summer evenings. In the winter, no one sat at the tables by the window unless they wore their overcoats.

Through the years we have seen the clubhouse enlarged under Commodore Abe LaBoube. In 1973, the ceilings were lowered by Ray Burdeno, the air conditioning was added, the windows looking out on the lake were put in. In 1982, the outside deck was added to the building during the term of Commodore Dick Brady. The deck has brought the membership a much needed addition to the clubhouse and a great view of the lake.

Our club managers have stayed with us for a long time. Bill Johnson retired in 1958, Harry Baldwin died in 1965 when Gene Barrick was the Commodore. Then began a long stay for Frank “Chappy” Martin, who was with us for years. Chappy was always ready to put on a great meal for the members. After Frank died, Max Myers came along and filled his big shoes until 1987. During the late 80’s, our manager was Carol Semmersheim, who had an extensive background in the food business. She did a great job for the club. In December 12, 1991, an article in USA Today announced that the club was closed when 50 people suffered food poisoning at a party.

As plans were made in the late 80’s for a new fireplace some old timers remembered the old fireplace on the middle of the west wall. It was not usable and it was home to squirrels and birds. It was old and caused quite a draft.

Horace Jenkins wrote to the 50th anniversary committee, telling of the days when the lake was full of water and we had boat docks with perhaps 10-15 boats lined up on the shore.

The present Lake Vermilion was formed in 1925 when the old wooden dam, which extended from Sportsman’s Club point on the east side of the lake roughly to the southern tip of Walnut Hill, was dynamited to flood the new lake. In the 65 years from 1925 to 1990, the lake had silted in and lost over 60% of its cubic volume. Our club’s waterfront was reduced to just a few inches of water, and at one point, it was possible to walk across the lake from the Club to the east side. The lake was raised in 1991 when 5-foot extensions were added to the existing dam gates and we raised our concrete seawall by that amount as well. That monumental event sparked a big increase in membership and lakefront members. Our 1992 Variety Show was themed “Five Feet High and Risen”. Informal beach picnics and bonfires, hot air balloon splash and dash events, boat races, lakefront music, fireworks displays and continuous boating activities have been the order of the day. We installed a new system of docks and those have been expanded several times. Dozens of members had purchased boatlifts and the waterfront has returned to its hey-day of the past.

In a financial report from year end of 1986, it showed salaries of $4281 for the year and a cash balance of $30,159, which included $16,614 in the Trustees account. The end of year report shows that new dishes and flatware were purchased and it required another hour of kitchen help to wash dishes on Thursday night, so $.75 was deducted from the profit from the $6 Thursday dinner. In November of 1986, they reported that a new storage addition had been completed for $2803. In 1987 membership included 128 regular members, of which 103 were couples, 25 were singles, plus 21 associate members.

The aerial picture below was taken by Bill Ryan in 1988 and furnished by Dale Salonen. Note that the Beach House is open at the side and front. Three docks were floating 8×16’ with barrels were sitting on a dry lake bed. Beach road and parking lot were gravel. No street lights in the parking lot yet. Retaining wall north of the Beach House wasn’t built yet.

Numerous capital projects were undertaken in the 1990’s and beyond. A few of those include kitchen remodeling and expansion, remodeling of the basement into a Manager’s Apartment and office, addition of new rest rooms while Max Dines was commodore and a cloak room, new septic system with settling tanks and an aeration system. Parking lot was paved and lighting was added. The beach house was remodeled and closed in, vinyl siding for the building, and added an exterior cooler/freezer. New stairs down to the lake as well as a circular staircase off the deck were added. New appliances in the kitchen were added in 1990, including a stove and exhaust hood. Also, a new roof was installed on the Boat House. Spouses got membership rights and a vote! We had a full membership of 150 regular members (single and married) in October, 1992. By 1996, dues were $125 per year for married couples. The bar area was upgraded in 1996 as members were looking forward to a liquor license. Note the lake was also raised 5 feet in 1991 which allowed for additional slips to be installed.

One monumental change that occurred in 1998 was our annexation into the City of Danville. An article in the Commercial News said “Last month the city council approved the annexation of six acres at the Danville Boat Club on Lake Vermilion.” This was to accommodate our getting a liquor license. The State of Illinois had made it clear we could not continue as a “bottle” club as had been our history for so long. The annexation was accomplished by connecting to the city along the lake front to the south.

In October of 1995, the board purchased Lot 9 of DA Robbins 2nd Addn. for overflow and boat trailer parking for $8000. In 2005, the board purchased adjacent Lots 7 & 8. Lots 7&8 were purchased for $35,500 from Terrance Yowell, which included a house that was torn down to provide more parking. In 2006, all 3 lots were transferred to a property trust 06-3331 according to county records. An attempt was made in 2017 to sell off the lots, but the members voted not to sell. In 2020, revenue from these three lots was $1930.

In 2009, the board approved replacing the two furnaces with higher efficiency heating and air conditioning units. However, even with two new units, air conditioning did not keep up in the summer. In 2010 member Stan Grubb did a pressure test of the building that indicated that numerous air leaks existed. Several work parties were scheduled by Commodore Steve Autor where insulation was installed in areas where none existed and sections of the attic were closed off to control air movement. Finally, 18 smoke eater vents, which were no longer needed as the State of Illinois had banned smoking, were removed. Once this was complete, the air conditioning was able to keep up most of the time in the heat of the summer, even with a full crowd. Some of the original walls are not well insulated and some air leaks still exist, but the electric & gas costs have gone down by $4000 a year. A gas fireplace insert was installed in 2013 after 36 members contributed $100 each. A 75 gallon water heater was replaced with an on demand water heater when the exhaust fan quit working and exhaust fumes were backing up. We saved money on gas going forward since we didn’t keep 75 gallons of water heated on days when we were closed. Three thermostats were replaced for the heating and air conditioning in 2019 that were connected to our WiFi system giving us the ability to control thermostats from remote locations.

In 2010 we began sending out a weekly email. Steve Autor had used the software for several years already, Only 65% of the members had an email address at the time, but by 2022 the number was 95%.

Bill Hagler served as manager from 1992 to 2003. Also serving as manager was Dana Wheeler and Lori Smith. With the hiring of Michele Ryan in 2014, the quality of the food being served has improved and the membership improved for a while, but declined in 2016 and 2017. Membership dues were $400 per year starting with the 2015-2016 year, but were raised to $425 for the 2016-2017 year. The application fee was $250, but was lowered to $100 to increase applications. In 2017, donations were sought to purchase 150 new dining room chairs to replace the old ones, which were donated to several organizations. A plaque with the names of the 50 donors hangs in the dining room near the cash register.

During 2020, we took in 40 or so new and returning members with a promotion. Many board members and friends took advantage of the club closure to paint and replace some timbers on the deck, Steve Moore painted the metal tables and chairs on the deck, spruce up the dining room etc.

Most of the early information was found in minutes of board meetings and other publications found in the basement closet of the former office.