“A look back at Countryside Center”

Posted: 11 Sep 2010 10:16 PM PDT

Future of this Yorkville property remains unclear, but its legacy lives on

September 12, 2010

YORKVILLE — John Purcell got to see a part of the former Countryside Center here that many did not.

As a child growing up outside Yorkville, the current Kendall County Board member often sat in the center manager's office.

"I had many a conversation in that office, during my junior high and high school years," says Purcell, thinking back. "Just trying to keep me out of trouble."

You see, Countryside Center and the nearby residential subdivision were developed by Purcell's father, Jack Purcell, in 1972. And John not only had father-son talks there, he worked at the center in different jobs and various positions growing up and as a young adult, for at least 15 of the center's about 33 years of existence.

The property where the center, now torn down, once stood, is owned now by Tri-Land Properties Inc., who recently took steps to clean the area up, but still has no specific development plan for it.

Although he had some inside knowledge of the center, Purcell shared the experience with many Yorkville youths and adults, who worked and shopped at the center. It was the emotional center of town for a couple generations, if not the geographic one.

Downtown was downtown, and Countryside for years the northern edge of the city; but Countryside is what people growing up and living their lives during most of those 33 years remember.

There were movies, fireworks, holiday programs and special events. Yorkville residents remember that homecoming for years started with a pep rally at the center's fountain, took a snake dance through the Countryside subdivision and ended up by the creek for a bonfire.

"I remember that fondly," Purcell says.

Everyone in town shopped at the Safari Market, the grocery store that somewhat anchored Countryside. If you didn't run into your friends or neighbors there, you might at the restaurant, which had different names at times, but was always open and crowded for most of Countryside's existence.

There were plenty of tidy, thriving shops in the center — from video and jewelry stores to dance studios — and they worked together to make the center neat and clean for patrons who drove from across town, or walked and rode bikes from the nearby neighborhood.

At Halloween and Thanksgiving, the merchants pitched in and sponsored a free movie for the community at the Countryside theater, the other anchor that almost everyone remembers fondly.

"I miss the theater; it was really nice," says Mayor Valerie Burd, a 23-year resident of Yorkville.

Purcell remembers seeing his first movie there, the World War II action picture Midway, with his father. That was an experience many Yorkville kids and parents shared.

"We had 300 seats there," says Bob Williams, who with his wife Wanda managed the theater for about 11 years. "Friday and Saturday nights, that's what we sold. You couldn't find a parking spot."

The situation was the same on Tuesday nights, when movies were $1. The theater was spacious and comfortable, and at its height only had three screens. Williams, who taught for years at Yorkville High School and coached football, track and wrestling — the latter as an assistant to eventual Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Denny Hastert — was approached by Jack Purcell to manage the theater.

At the time, Williams worked in the summers for Purcell.

"When they called him for the theater, it was a Wednesday, and they needed us by Friday," says Wanda Williams, chuckling. "We said, we'll try it for six months. We didn't have any idea what was going on. Well, that took care of our social life and holidays."

Being a teacher at the high school, Williams laughs when he says he had "the pick of the litter" for employees.

Countryside began to falter in the early part of this decade, a victim of competition from big box stores coming to Yorkville, and economic times. Williams, who had retired in 1996, says the seven-screen theater in Sandwich and the 10-screen Tinseltown Cinema in North Aurora killed the smaller Countryside theater.

New owners decided that not only did the center have to close, but the tidy, brick buildings had to come down, too, to make way for a new development. Burd said while she voted for that as an alderman, it was a tough vote.

"I didn't own it," she says. "I never understood why they had to tear it down."

The area where the center once stood is sort of like an odd ghost town, with some businesses in outbuildings there sprinkled among roads and parking lots that seemingly have no purpose. They once served the buildings that are no longer there.

But many remember that at one time, the small, friendly center was there, seemingly taking care of anything Yorkville residents needed or wanted.

"I recall that my father many times, if he saw a need in the community, he tried to meet it," Purcell says. "I think when you grow up in a community, and you stay there and develop something, you tend to take more pride in it."

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: "Peace Envoy" Blair Gets an Easy Ride in the Independent.