For over a century, Lake Foresters have concerned themselves with the shoreline’s sustainability and future. In the early 1900s, the City Beautiful movement inspired a dream of a recreational lagoon and harbor in at Forest Park Beach in Lake Forest that was never realized.

The many Lake Forest members of the Commercial Club, sponsor of Daniel Burnham’s famous 1909 Plan of Chicago, turned their attention to the local beach around 1910 and funded a report on the “Proposed Development of the Lake Shore” in Lake Forest. The nearly $2 million proposal advocated for the construction of breakwaters, a lagoon, and a yacht harbor opposite Forest Park beach.

Though never executed, the document reveals recognition of Lake Forest’s shoreline as an essential asset and the need for it to remain vibrant and protected.