CRYSTAL LAKE – The Racket Club, a Crystal Lake Park District facility, will commemorate its 40th anniversary with a free open house from 3:30 to 4 p.m. Nov. 10 at the club, 9101 S. Route 31, a mile south of Rakow Road in Algonquin.

In 1972, the club was founded by Crystal Lake businessman Walt Herrick Sr. as a private indoor tennis club. Herrick and four other tennis enthusiasts and businessmen, Nick Carter, Steve Morgan, Jack Thomas and Chuck Schunk, formed a partnership and bought land in Algonquin.

The club prospered through the 1970s “tennis boom” years, adding two indoor courts in 1974, three outdoor courts in 1974, three clay courts, an outside Pavilion building and outdoor practice wall in 1976.