" I grew up in Mattoon during the 50's and Lytle Pool remains one of my most fond memories!!!!!

Kathy Meehan Horvat "

" I miss the High Dive Board, don't know why they don't have one. "

" Medic - the pool isn't deep enough, by today's standards. "

" Not Deep enough? It's as deep as Charleston and Effinghams Pools and they have them, it's as deep as it was when I was swimming there, I used that board many times and never touched bottom. By the way, 10 meter springboard diver dive into pools no deeper than Mattoons. Mattoon claims liability problems, as they do with not having a skate park. Funny, all the towns around here have them, but Mattoon only seems interested in having ORGANIZED Sports they can make money off of. Look around, where are the baseball diamonds kids can use for a pickup game. "

" Remember when Lytle Pool had the big light tower in the middle of the pool with high power electrical lines running to it. "

" FYI Medic: Mattoon is in the beginning stages of building a skate park. "

" acid, Yes, I remember the light tower and being double dogged dared to swim under it. Get caught and you were kicked out for the rest of the day. Also remember the slide, the high dive, the sun bathing decks, the refreshment stand, and Brown Derby ice crean for the long walk home. The good ole days. "

" Lytle Pool has been a tremendous asset to the Mattoon community since 1930. Many readers remember the fun times they have had at Lytle.

I was fortunate to teach Red Cross swimming lessons from about age 14 to 20 back in the 1960's. One year I cleaned the pool and worked in the bag room (male dressing room). When cleaning the bottom of the deep end, we wore a homemade diver's helmet with air pumped to it from a paint compresser. This would never pass OSHA standards today. I then had the enjoyment of being a life guard for several of those years also.

Pool customers, young and old were great to be around and usually followed the safety rules. I still remember some of the kids who had to sit under the life guard chair occasionally for a few minutes to remind them to obey the safety rules. But they were great kids and probably didn't do anything I had not done when I was a little younger.

I believe the Lytle Park Board and Red Cross had an arrangement to provide free or very low cost swimming lessons to both youth and adults. The board allowed those who taught the lessons for the Red Cross free admissions to the pool as they were not paid by the Red Cross.

The park board also had an arrangement with the Mattoon school district to distribute free admission tickets for about 6 or 8 Mondays during the season. I believe we would get up to approximately 1200 to 1400 swimmers on those free admission dates.

My compliments to the Lytle Park Board for updating the pool ocassionally and keeping it in such great shape. The park staff through the years have done a great job maintaining the pool and park. "

" The park board also had an arrangement with the Mattoon school district to distribute free admission tickets for about 6 or 8 Mondays during the season. I believe we would get up to approximately 1200 to 1400 swimmers on those free admission dates.


Actually, Boys got swimming tickets for the summer and girls got Roller Skating tickets. "

" Once a good friend and I had our eye on the same girl at the Mattoon pool. They both could swim and I couldn't, so he tried to get her to go into the deeper water all the time. Needless to say, I learned to swim that summer. "

" HAHAHAHAHA "

" I remember getting the free swim tickets good for Mon and Wed along with the free skate tickets on the last day of school from 4th through the 6th grades. My friends and I really took advantage of all those free tickets. "

" I remember some joker threw a babyruth candy bar in then told the lifegaurd someone pooped,they evacuated the whole pool. "

" Kamfong wrote on Jun 1, 2009 6:19 PM:

" I remember some joker threw a babyruth candy bar in then told the lifegaurd someone pooped,they evacuated the whole pool. "


You're in the movies too? "

" I loved skating, my aunt and uncle were John and Louise Shields. I still love skating, worked at Silver Star and Skateland in Savoy for many years, even skated compitition dance 1 year, although, at 52 years old, I doubt I could do it again. Sigh. "

" Reference posting by Mickey Garlock:

Your aunt and uncle, Louise & John Shields were wonderful folks. They both really enjoyed teaching kids to skate and let them have fun. My first few tries on roller skates resulted in me being on the floor more than I was on the skates.

The Shields were so interested in kids skating, they set time aside on Saturday mornings in the 1950's for racing. We all wore dyed long underwear and knee pads as a uniform. We thought we were really something, but I suspect we were not near as fast and "cool" as we thought we were.

I also took skate dancing lessons, but having two left feet never helped my partner. If I could only remember who some of my partners were, I would apologize to them now for being so clumsy. They probably felt sorry for me, so they were always kind and just hoped they never had me for a partner again.

I spent a lot of time at the Silver Star Roller Rink as a kid and believe the Shields treated me like an adopted son. When the original rink burned down, they rebuilt and provided a great recreational facility for the community.

My parents met at the Charleston roller rink in the early 1940's and that meeting resulted in their current 67 years of marriage. So roller skating has been good to our family.

I know there are other posters who also had some great times at Silver Star Roller Rink. Please consider posting your experiences. "

" My parents met at Silver Star in the 40's. I have the piece of window glass that mom used to look a dad through before they met. I am also the owner of all of those pictures that were in the foyer of the new rink, the pictures of the fire, I even have pictures of a bunch of guys lined up to race, could be you, who knows. When aunt Louise died, a lot of relatives were fighting over her money, all I ever wanted were the pictures, 6 or 8 albums of them, plus some in a box, the earliest one dating back to 1937 showing the roller rink set up under a tent just north of the Bowling Alley, before they had a building. "

" How about that organ music at the roller rink? Now that's going back a few. "

" Medic - You don't like the answer? Fine. Then make another one up. They don't have a high dive just to irritate you. It's a conspiracy to make you mad. Go swim in Charleston. But the true reason is related to insurance costs and the depth. Get over it. "

" But the true reason is related to insurance costs and the depth. Get over it. "


Bull, the pool now is the same depth as the pool when they had a high dive. Olympic divers dive from 30 feet into 10 feet of water. Mattoon also doesn't want a skatepark because of the insurance, why are we the only town around that has problems with insurance. "

" Mickey,
My parents also met at the skating rink.
I remember going there in grade school and jr. high and skating the "Grand March". My parents would always go with a couple and their family from Janesvile. "

" Ahh yes, The Grand March, Two Step, Waltzs, Uncle John and Aunt Louise were always trying to play matchmaker, remember the Bell Skate? Couples Skating one behind the other, when the bell rang, the guys had to move up 1 place, or multplying couples, guys on one side of the rink, girls on the other, start out with one couple, blow whistle, they each split up and find a new partner and so on. And the key to the grand march was having 2 good leaders.

Oh well, sometimes my memory still works ok. "

" I remember getting to spend the whole night at the skating rink for the Jerry Lewis Skate-a-thon. We got to be on TV. It was a blast and the best part was that it really was work. You had to earn tickets to get breaks so you had to keep going if you ran out of tickets. I still have a set of 7-up Uncola glasses that I won as a door prize out there. (You know, the upside down Coca-cola glasses). Fun times and great memories.

I also have tons of memories at Lytle Pool. I had a season pass every summer and was there every single day. I remember the tower in the middle of the pool. I remember that you had to be able to swim across the whole pool in order to go in the deep end. I remember taking red cross swimming lessons when I was in grade school. I remember my older brother's girlfriend teaching me how to dive. Oh to be 10 again. LOL "

" I also remember not having my trunks tied tight enough while diving off the High Dive, hey, maybe that's why they don't have a high dive anymore.
I remember the year after I got SCUBA Certified, I was playing around in the deep end and one of the lifeguards didn't think I could swim very good, so she made me swim the width of the pool to prove that I could, I swam it underwater, really ticked her off. "

" I was at the pool a couple years ago, and I did a "Back Flip" off of the diving board, and one of the life guards blew a whistle at me, and said "no back flips" , are you kidding me?...Now they want to control how we enter the water?....It's a swimming pool for goodness sakes......Geez "

" "Actually, Boys got swimming tickets for the summer and girls got Roller Skating tickets. "

When I was in school we both got both :D

They have done a wonderful job with Lytle. "

" Becky

I didn't need skating tickets, but, Auint Louise always made me pick up skates after skating was over. So I didn't really get to skate for free.

I agree, Lytle has got to be one of the best pools in Illinois. "

" At the pool, I forgot about popcorn at the cocession stand,that was so salty you had to have an ice cold soda, and the frozen candy bars, and remember those "slow poke" caramel suckers? That took all day to eat.

Then over to brown derby for a chocolate dipped ice cream cone, man now I'm showing my age !! Probably about 1969-70....I was about 14-15 then. "

" Danny Boy

Yup, and all you needed was about $2 total. For me, that was 3 lawns mowed. "

" These are the most positive comments I have ever seen on the JG-TC. I will remember this day. "

" Wish I could post pictures here, I have hundreds of the Roller Rink, 1 pictute is of the rink under a tent just north of the Bowling Alley before Uncle John put up a building, circa 1937. "