Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

Scottish immigrant Charles T. Gunn arrived in Lake Forest in 1889, at age 16. He found a job clerking in James Anderson’s store, a starting place for many local Scots. Gunn and S. C. Orr opened their own grocery business on Western Avenue in 1897, parting ways five years later.

The original C. T. Gunn grocery building was knocked down in 1916 to make way for Market Square, and Gunn moved into a large storefront at the Square’s south end (2019’s Starbucks), where it remained until 1926.

Behind the slogan “A Good Place to Get Good Things To Eat,” Gunn built a sterling reputation and loyal customer base in Lake Forest. The store sold milk from local dairies and fresh fruits and vegetables, along with a wide variety of packaged goods.

This receipt shows Delevan Smith’s grocery purchases at Gunn’s for the month of March, 1903, including Bon Ami household cleanser, yeast, oranges, bananas, beans, lettuce, ginger wafers, cheese, canned peaches and cherries, Quaker Oats and shredded wheat, rice, sugar, lemons and canned tomatoes.)

This 1920s ad for C.T. Gunn from the Lake Forester promotes milk from the Meadowood dairy, a local gentleman farm. The grocery store, like nearly all Lake Forest businesses, closed early on Wednesdays to give shopkeepers – most of whom worked on Saturdays – a chance to partake in recreational opportunities like a trip out to the new Deerpath Golf Course.

Gunn sold his grocery business in 1926 and soon retired to Largo, Florida. There he used his contacts and knowledge of Lake Foresters’ citrus consumption to found C.T. Gunn Co, growers and shippers of oranges, grapefruit and tangerines.

Architect Stanley Anderson designed 241 East Deerpath for C.T. Gunn in 1927, likely as a real estate venture since Gunn had sold the year before. By 1930, the Greater Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company – better known as the A&P – was operating there, signaling a local transition to chain grocery stores.

All 15 children born to Donald and Margaret Gunn of Caithness, Scotland left their homeland for the US and five came to Lake Forest: Charles T., Andrew, Margaret, David and James. David worked as a delivery man for his brother Charles’ grocery and Andrew worked as a clerk. After marrying, Andrew Gunn lived with his young family in Lake Bluff on Trusdell Avenue (now Sheridan Place) and went into business as a carpenter. Pictured are Andrew Gunn and his wife Martha Hayward.