Born in Ontario to a Scottish family, Neil N. Campbell first came to work in Lake Forest in 1910, shortly after graduating with a degree in engineering from the University of Illinois. He was promoted to become Lake Forest’s City Engineer in 1917, and he celebrated as befits an engineer: by building his family a house (at 215 Washington Circle). Here Neil and Helen Campbell raised three daughters - Dorothy, Vivian and Jean.

Under Campbell’s jurisdiction as City Engineer for 31 years were plats, property lines, streets, and sewers, sidewalks, and street lights. In 1928 he supervised the paving of two sections of Westminster and Western Avenue. According to the Lake Forester, the streets were “opened to traffic on the third day after the concrete was laid, one of the first sections of three-day concrete anywhere in the country.” The engineering feat was recognized by the Universal Portland Cement Company.

Other career highlights included surveying and the engineering design for Deerpath Golf Course; the athletic field at Lake Forest High School; and the first sketches for the Skokie Highway through Lake Forest, the Deerpath underpass, and the underpass at Westleigh Road.

He oversaw a time of transition in Lake Forest, as changing lifestyles and economic circumstances slowed estate growth and stimulated the subdivision of large properties. He became the town’s second City Manager in 1948. When he retired in 1955, he had served the City for over 40 years.