The "Millionaires' Special" Commute: Club Car 553 to Chicago

The first private coach on a suburban line was started in 1929 by a group of Lake Foresters. The club car, called “The Deerpath,” was attached to an existing Chicago and North Western train. It left L...

Lake Forest Triples in Size: Everett Annexation, 1926

By the 1920s, country places had succeeded family farms as the dominant feature west of Lake Forest, and the owners began to wonder about the future of their property investments. Who would take care...

A "Super-Highway" - Route 41 is Built, 1937

With the surge in automobile use by the 1920s, north-south thoroughfares had grown congested. The Skokie Highway (U.S. 41) was completed in 1937, linking Lake Forest more closely with Chicago by car.A...

A Smoother Commute: Tollway Opens Through Lake County

Following the postwar suburban boom, earlier highways proved inadequate for 1950s drivers. The Tri-State Tollway, opened in 1958, provided a bypass around the gridlock of Chicago, as well as another w...

Conway Through The Years

Take a look at these maps and aerial photographs for a peek into the history of the land that became Conway Farms and Conway Park. The line through the middle is Rte. 60, the diagonal through the uppe...

Suburban Growth in West Lake Forest

The 1950s ushered in a period of rapid change to Lake Forest. Alterations to the tax structure and transitions in family lifestyles marked the twilight of the estate era. The postwar baby boom and ope...

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...

Map: Lake Forest, 1873

Map: Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and environs, 1922

Lake Forest and Lake Bluff at the height of the estate era in the 1920s. At the time, the western city limits of Lake Forest only extended to the future site of the Skokie Highway in the north, and to...

Market Square: Heralding a New Era in Urban Planning

At its beginnings, Market Square broke new ground. In 1916, as the nation’s first artfully designed shopping center, it linked pedestrian, automobile, and train, and heralded a new era in urban planni...

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...