Waltham Curling Club

About Waltham Curling Club

Waltham Curling Club: Illinois’ Oldest Club, Curling Since 1884

Waltham Curling Club is the oldest curling club in Illinois. Its roots go back to Scottish immigrants who settled in LaSalle County in the mid-1800s, and the club was founded in 1884. In 1937 it moved to Triumph, a farm hamlet of about 100 people just off Route 52 south of Earlville, near the junction of I-39 and I-80. The current building went up in 1940, on a site chosen for its high water table, and artificial ice arrived in 1954.

The club has three sheets of dedicated curling ice and a heated gallery with three rows of red cushioned theater seats and closed-circuit overhead views. Waltham counts more active curlers than Triumph has residents, and curling runs in families here: member Alan Wilson represents at least the sixth generation of his family at the club, which his great-grandfather helped found.

The season runs from early November through late March, with mixed, men’s, women’s and junior leagues, youth curling from age seven or eight with equipment provided, and group learn-to-curl sessions. The big event is the club’s bonspiel on the first weekend of March, which has drawn more than 800 competitors from around the Midwest, Olympian Debbie McCormick among them.