Annexing the Conway Developments, 1988

In October 1988, Lake Forest City Council voted to annex Conway Farms, a 682-acre tract of land straddling Rte. 60. By extending its western boundary to the tollway, Lake Forest encompassed new, large...

Ike Colburn: Too Modernist for Lake Forest?

Ike Colburn was born in Boston in 1924. He attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh and Yale University. Colburn came to the Chicago-area in 1951 at a time of post-war growth. He worked for Schweikher and...

John Griffith: Developing Lake Forest

John Griffith opened his Lake Forest business in 1903 which grew to include real estate, insurance and mortgages. Born in North Wales, he came to Chicago in 1888 and within five years was in Lake Fore...

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...

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...

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...