Landscape designer Helen Brown Milman (1887-1987) was a student of Ralph Rodney Root at the University of Illinois. In addition to teaching, Root was an author and estate garden designer. In 1916, Helen Milman also attended classes run by Root in a special Lake Forest Garden Club summer program. Fellow students included Annette Hoyt Flanders and Charles W. Wagstaff.
It was through the Lake Forest Garden Club school that architect Howard Van Doren Shaw came to know Helen Milman and her work. In 1917, Shaw enlisted Milman’s help with the landscaping of Market Square. She kept it simple, understanding that people needed to see the shop windows from the train station. In 1940, she was brought back to the oversee the renovation of the square which included adding paths and bushes to visually separate the center grassy park from the roadway.
Helen Milman was a member of the Lake Forest Garden Club. Her husband was architect Ralph Milman, with whom she partnered on several of commissions including: 151 Ridge Lane, the Art Deco-style Lake Forest Post Office, 1050 Walden Road and their own home on a private land east of Green Bay Road, 1275 N. Green Bay.
