Born in Brattleboro, Vermont, Charles Frederick Childs graduated from Yale in 1899 and met his future wife Edith Newell on a boat trip around the world. The two were married in 1900, making their home in New York where C. Frederick Childs worked in bonds at 1 Wall Street.

In 1904, his firm sent him to manage the western office in Chicago, and by 1906, the family moved to Lake Forest to be closer to her family. The Childs home, 737 North Sheridan or Shadow Lawn, was next door to his sister-in-law, and across the street from his mother-in-law.

After remaining with Fisk & Robinson for seven years, C. Frederick Childs went into business for himself in 1911, founding C. F. Childs and Company, a firm that bought and sold government bonds. Historian Edward Arpee called the firm “the oldest and largest business in America specializing in government securities.” C. Frederick Childs was often quoted in the Chicago Daily Tribune as an expert on monetary policy during the Depression.

Though new to the community, C. Frederick Childs quickly took a leadership role, serving as an alderman and then as mayor in 1910.