An Impressive Ceremony': Market Square Flagpole Dedication, 1917

Making It Home
An Impressive Ceremony': Market Square Flagpole Dedication, 1917

December 2, 1917, standing in front of the bank building in Market Square.

A procession featuring the Fort Sheridan band, the Home Guards, the Boy Scouts and local schoolchildren formed at City Hall and marched down Deerpath to Western and then to Market Square.

A procession featuring the Fort Sheridan band, the Home Guards, the Boy Scouts and local schoolchildren formed at City Hall and marched down Deerpath to Western and then to Market Square.

Lake Forester, December 8, 1917.

Lake Forester, December 8, 1917.

World War I provided an opportunity for Market Square, built in 1916, to truly become the town center. On December 2, 1917 at 3 p.m. the Market Square flagpole was raised and dedicated, by troops and a large band from Fort Sheridan.
The flagpole itself was funded by longtime Lake Forest residents, sisters Catherine and Jessie Colvin. The Lake Forest War Emergency Union presented a flag containing 177 stars, each one representing a Lake Forest youth at the front, to be hung on the new flagpole.
Still in Market Square today, the flagpole contains a Woodrow Wilson quote that reads “We are glad to fight for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its people” on one side and an inscription reading “Dedicated to the men of Lake Forest who gave themselves for the safety of their country and the world, 1917” on the other side.