O’Fallon community center will be razed and replaced, but its historic name will remain

A community hall has been a fixture in the O’Fallon Community Park for 97 years, and an agreement to dedicate it in memory of businessman Loyed Britten Cavins, who was known as K.D., Kady or Katy, has been in place since 1994.

That name will remain, even though plans are for the current building to be torn down and a new multipurpose center to be constructed in a different area of the grounds on Fifth Street. The park has been located on U.S. 50 since 1924, and the pool was built in 1959.

The Cavins family donated $100,000, in four installments of $25,000 each year from 1994 to 1997, for the naming rights to the community center. An acceptance letter dated 1994 specified that if the building was destroyed, rebuilt, or moved to another location, that it would still be called the Cavins Center.

“It’s an ironclad document.” said Gene Smith, who represents the Cavins family and was a good friend of K.D.’s.

Cavins started Vandalia Bus Lines, Central and Southern Truck Lines, Bel-O Cooling and Heating, and operated school buses. His business partner was Oliver C. Anderson, whose name is on a hospital in Maryville, Illinois, because he was the largest donor.

“If he was short a driver for a school bus, he’d drive it himself. The kids just loved him. Everybody loved him. I never heard anybody say a bad word about him,” Smith said.

“Kady and I were very close, like father and son, like two brothers. He and his wife had no children,” said Smith, who previously lived in Fairview Heights but now lives in Springfield, Missouri.

“Kady loved this city. He’d always answer his phone ‘Cavins of O’Fallon.’ He was so good to people. He was always for the underdog. He loved to be around other people. He did so many things that people don’t even know about. That’s why his widow thought it was perfect for his name to be on the community center. She wanted it named ‘Katy Cavins.’”

That agreement was confirmed by Andrew Dallner, director of the parks and recreation department, at an O’Fallon City Council parks committee meeting Oct. 9.

Smith said he contacted the mayor about the agreement, and talked with Dallner, who was unaware of the earlier resolution.

“It has to be called the Katy Cavins Center,” Dallner said at the meeting. “Renaming rights are off the table. Renaming it is not an option, we are prevented from doing that.”

Plans are currently in development for a new pool, community center and event space to open in May 2025.

O’Fallon council OKs replacing pool and community center, advances tax levy to fund it

The Katy Cavins Center has been the site of summer camps, special occasions, milestones, trivia nights, fundraisers, and other events, and is part of a sweeping upgrade for the park that also includes offices and a trail.

Dallner said the new plans include a gym but that multipurpose rentals are also a big part of the facility.

“It’s still a multi-purpose area. It’s more than a gym. We’ll still have trivia nights and events there,” he said.

Built during the spring and summer of 1926 by the O’Fallon Homecoming Association, it was dedicated on Oct. 23 that year, with much of the labor being donated, according to O’Fallon Historical Society records.

At that time, the park was owned by the Homecoming Association, and given debt-free to the city in 1946.

Who is Katy Cavins?

Loyed B. Cavins, who went by the initials K.D., was born on Feb. 19, 1912, near Marion, Illinois. He married Genevieve Eloise Beckman in 1937, and they lived in her family’s O’Fallon home until he died on Aug. 28, 1991. He was 79. He is buried in the O’Fallon Cemetery.

Genevieve lived until she was 100, and died on Sept. 22, 2013. She and her parents, Charles and Pearl, had restored a landmark building in downtown O’Fallon, where they owned and operated the Bus Stop Café. She was an only child.

Genevieve and K.D. were active in the community.

“They were very well-liked, very civic-minded,” Smith said.

A Multi-Use Facility

In exploring renovations, Dallner said they discovered that the community center needed a complete overhaul. It is limited in size for events of more than 100-plus people and immediate needs included replacing an accessibility ramp and installing a fire sprinkler system.

He said the parks department evaluated conditions to determine short and long-term maintenance and identified concerns regarding life-safety, accessibility, energy efficiency, building code-related items, and other potential building operation concerns.

The amount of work needed for repairs was cost-prohibitive and it was determined that it would be wiser to build a new one rather than fix the current one.

Over the summer, Quadrant Design did a study and Holland Construction did a cost estimate about bringing the facility up to modern day standards:

• Renovations and flooding: $2,567,919-$2,838,226.

• Elevator: Additional $926,636-$1,024,177.

• Cost Opinion Proposal Total $3,494,555 - $3,862,403.

The city applied for a construction grant from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, and would be committed to match 25% of $2.8 million, in any combination of cash and in-kind contributions if the grant is awarded. The money would fund the building demolition and new construction.

The gym would provide much needed indoor athletic space for youth programming such as basketball and volleyball. This would also help alleviate some District 90 gym usage during the winter months.

The added indoor athletic space would be a complement to their summer camp and would allow campers to be inside and active during the hot summer weather.

Estimated Facility Construction Cost: $5,076,000 to $5,670,000

Currently, the city is unveiling site plans, financial information, and updates about the Community Park Enhancement Project at various meetings. It has encouraged discussions on uses for the multipurpose facility and the event space proposals, and how best to replace the outdoor kitchen. Parking estimates have been made, options for pool slides presented, trees targeted for removal.

That information is available on the city’s website, in meeting minutes, and from meetings uploaded on the city’s YouTube channel.