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A History of Generosity and Excellence
The Dellora A. Norris Cultural Arts Center, a 1,000-seat performing arts theater and art gallery, was founded in 1978 with funding from the St. Charles Charities, which was created in 1924 by Lester and Dellora Norris and Edward Baker, which is now known as the Norris Foundation.
For 32 years, the Norris has brought downtown Chicago-quality entertainment and arts to the suburbs, featuring theater, illusion, comedy, dance, and virtually every genre of music, from pop and blues to big band, classical and opera. The Norris is located on the Norris Campus, which includes the John B. Norris Recreation Center, the Lester J. Norris Sports Complex, the Norris Stadium, and the St. Charles East High School. The Norris opens its venue to the high school for performances and theater classes, but operates independent from the school. It offers facility rentals to a wide variety of groups and attracts regional, national, and even international talent for its season programs.
The variety of acts through the years has been as astounding as the Amazing Kreskin, who made an appearance in 1994. Early season performances included Helen Reddy, the Kingston Trio, Itzhak Perlman, Chicago City Ballet, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Grand Opera, and even Peking Acrobats. Later seasons included a fabulous lineup of children's theater, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Ides of March, as well as headliners like Roy Clark, Harry Belafonte, Kathy Mattea, Mel Torme, Phyllis Diller & Steve Allen.
Dellora A. Norris
In 1917, at 15 years of age, St. Charles, IL native, Dellora Angell, inherited a portion of the $38 million fortune of John W. "Bet-a-Million" Gates, founder of the Texas Oil Company (later called Texaco) and maker of barbed wire. Six years after receiving her inheritance, Angell married childhood sweetheart and local cartoonist, Lester Norris.
The couple's generosity, as well as that of Gates' brother-in-law, "Colonel" Edward Baker, has contributed greatly to the quality of living in St. Charles and the greater Fox Valley, with funding for construction of Delnor Hospital and Delnor Medical Park, Baker Methodist Church, the Municipal Building, Hotel Baker, and Rockwell Community Center among other facilities.
A Red Cross volunteer, Dellora Norris worked as a nurse's aide at Delnor. She also supported her husband in the founding of Thrift Gardens (later Victory Gardens) as a means to support the country in advance of World War II. Lester, who later received a commendation from the President for this effort, chaired the national Victory Garden Program.
In 1972, the couple donated the 70 acres of land on which the St. Charles East High School sits today and made an initial gift of $4.25 million toward construction of a cultural arts center and a recreation center. The school opened in 1977, followed by the Dellora A. Norris Cultural Arts Center in 1978, the Lester J. Norris Sports Complex in 1980 (with an additional $2.5 million grant from the Norris family), and the John B. Norris Recreation Center (named for one of the couple's children).
Dellora died in 1979, at 77, and Lester died two years later, but the family's legacy lives on, not only through their works but also through their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, several of whom continue to live in the community.