"A Lake in the Meadow": Artesian Lake

Location: Sheridan Road and Sheridan Place, Lake Bluff

In the 1880s, with the construction of the grounds for the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting and the building of the large Hotel Irving, a need arose for water to supply all those buildings. An artesian well wa...

Deerpath Golf Course: Golf for Everyone

With golf at local private clubs booming and the twenties starting to roar, in 1922 Lake Foresters began to clamor for a public course. Mayor Henry Rumsey heeded their call, seeing in it a project tha...

Forest Park Project: Opening Vistas to the Lake

In 2008, the Lake Forest Garden Club gifted the City of Lake Forest a Conceptual Master plan to restore, enhance and preserve Forest Park. To implement the plan, the nonprofit Forest Park Project boar...

Forest Park Beach: Where Lake Meets Forest

Forest Park Beach was incorporated into the city of Lake Forest in 1861. Now totaling 29.72 acres, it was set aside as green space in the 1857 Plan for Lake Forest by Almerin Hotchkiss.

Protecting Our Shore: 1987 Shoreline Restoration

In 1987, Lake Forest residents invested in a large-scale restoration project to protect Forest Park Beach from erosion. Record high lake levels had destroyed the beach and bluffs were wearing away.

Triangle Park: In the Middle of It All

The plot of land that is today "Triangle Park" was formed from Lake Forest's 1857 town plan, created by landscape architect Almerin Hotchkiss. His design for Lake Forestintegrated the town into the te...

"Old" Hotel: The Hotel that Launched a Community

Walnut and Washington, Lake Forest

Location: Westminster and Walnut, Lake ForestEveryone knew the place to be was the Lake Forest Hotel in 1858. When the three-story, white frame structure opened in the summer, it was the prospective t...

Map: Lake Forest, 1881

Many streets in Lake Forest changed their names in the 1910s.Depot Avenue --> McKinley AvenueHazel Avenue --> Church StreetLinden Avenue --> College RoadPoplar Avenue --> Rosemary RoadMapl...

Mr. T and the Trees: Gets to the Root of the Things

Lake Forest’s reputation as “Tree City, USA” took a serious hit in 1987 not long after Lawrence “Mr. T” Tureaud moved to town.Born in 1952, Tureaud grew up in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago. His e...