Everett and Beyond: A Celebration of West Lake Forest

Transcription

1 Everett ad Beyod: A Celebratio of West Lake Forest The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society is offerig a free program for the premier of the book West Lake Forest by authors Susa Kelsey, (Historical Society Board Member) Arthur Miller ad Shirley Paddock. The lecture ad book sigig will take place o Suday, December 9, 2012 at 2:00 pm at Elawa Farm i Lake Forest. Books will be available for purchase for a special premier price of $20 (regular price is $24). The program is free. For reservatios, please visit or call The authors will share some of the stories ucovered durig their research ad will be o had to sig books. As the book cover states: Everett, a place settled 25 years before the icorporatio of Lake Forest, was home to early pioeers ad homesteaders livig the America Dream. As early as 1835, Everett was a stage-coach stop o the ewly blazed military trail, preset-day Telegraph ad Waukega Roads. Everett was aexed to the City of Lake Forest i 1926 ad became kow as West Lake Forest. Durig the 20th cetury, farms gave way to subdivisios as the area evolved ito a suburba oasis. The authors have icluded images from several collectios, icludig those of the Historical Society, to pait this fasciatig look at the history of this part of tow. Joi us to hear about the history ad purchase the book for this special premier price. The Historical Society will cotiue this celebratio of west Lake Forest with programs ad a exhibit i Brig your ideas for lectures, tours ad topics to iclude i a exhibit to the book sigig. Museum staff will have a special idea board to gather your ideas ad suggestios. Two of the may photos i the book from the museum collectio, these depict the Louis Swift Estate ad the Everett Trai Statio. December 2012 a Volume Twety-eight a Number Three

2 What do you kow about the Historical Society? The Historical Society is takig history o the road with several travellig exhibits. The exhibit Spark of Geius was show for several moths i Market Square at the locatio of the former toy store. The golf exhibit, Hole i Oe, had a ecore showig at the Lake Bluff Library. A pael from the former exhibit, All Aboard, about the railroad is perhaps travellig the most. It is istalled o the private railroad club car kow as the Deerpath ad tells this history of this log-time Lake Forest traditio. These exhibits ca also be see o our website. We are delighted that all the research ad writig that goes ito these exhibits ca be cherished agai. Our third Local Legeds Evet was a tremedous success. It was my hoor to work with Joh Brya ad Bill Kurtis ad thak them for their geerous gift of time ad woderful stories. I wat to cogratulate our cochairs Katie Hale ad Tom Huter ad thak them for all their hard work. If you like these ad other programs, I hope you will thik of us whe you are makig your year-ed gifts. Your ivestmet helps us to cherish the past ad celebrate the best of our commuity. Sicerely, The Historical Society is proud to aouce we are a recipiet of a prestigious grat from the Istitute of Museum ad Library Services. Uder the Museum Assessmet Program (MAP) grat, we are assessig how the Historical Society egages with the commuity. This study will improve our ability to commuicate with ad serve the commuity, create collaboratios to serve local eeds ad idetify potetial audieces. The project ivolves a self-study, focus groups, surveys ad a visit from a museum cosultat. Most importatly, we would like to hear from you. What do you thik about the programs ad activities of the Historical Society? Please help us out by takig a brief survey o our website at Results of the study are expected i late sprig. Voluteer Spotlight Local residet Elizabeth Novit has bee voluteerig as a coordiator for the commuity assessmet grat. She graduated i 2012 from Tulae Uiversity with a degree i Art History ad a mior i Spaish. Elizabeth brigs her experiece i museums, commuicatios ad computer skills to the project, icludig developmet of the web-based survey. We are very grateful for her cotributio to the study. New Board Member Mark Westcott is a log time Lake Forest residet havig moved here i Mark, alog with his wife Carla, have four childre (all grow) ad are relishig beig empty esters. The couple recetly opeed Market House o the Square, a cotemporary America restaurat i dowtow Lake Forest, ad are workig o a secod project i the adjacet buildig. 2

3 Mark Your Caledar DECEMBER West Lake Forest Lecture ad book sigig with Susa Kelsey, Arthur Miller ad Shirley Paddock Suday, December 9 2:00 pm Elawa Farm, Lake Forest Cost: FREE, books available for $20 The program is free. The book West Lake Forest will be offered at a special premier price. JANUARY North Shore Iterurba Lecture with Norma Carlso Suday, Jauary 27 3:00 pm Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel Lake Forest College Cost: Free for members, $15 omembers To register for all programs, visit or call Take our membership survey at Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society Board of Directors Presidet: Robert D. Douglass, AIA Vice Presidet: David R. Hekel Treasurer: Leslie T. Chapma Secretary: David Sweet Immediate Past Presidet: Kate Wolf Lori G. Baker Robert N. Baks Jae Breto-Kauer Julie Carter Mike Cokli Carl DiTomasso Kathry P. Govas N. Maxwell Gregory Margie Juedes David M. Lutrey Jack Meierhoff Arthur H. Miller Nacy Novit Joh Ormsby Jea Royster Bob Shaw Ly Taylor Mark Westcott Kay Westo Susa Wright Executive Director: Jaice C. Hack Curator: Laurie E. Stei Director of Developmet: Lisa M. Frey Suday Maager: Jillia Chapma Mr. ad Mrs. Stewart Dixo Ms. Jaice Egle Ms. Kerry Friedma Mr. Edward Gray Mrs. Blache Hall Mr. ad Mrs. Skip Heizer Welcome New Members Mr. ad Mrs. Bob Hoaglud Mr. ad Mrs. James K. Keedy Mr. ad Mrs. Mark Kowlza Ms. Leslie Malcolm Mr. Michael O Coell Mr. James Pierce Dr. Lisa Rejali-Mieville Ms. Peggie Roberts Ms. Susa Rolader Mr. ad Mrs. Harry Sherma Mr. ad Mrs. Joh Travers 3

4 Local Legeds Evet The 2012 Local Legeds evet hoorig Joh H. Brya was a tremedous success ad raised $85,000 for Historical Society programs. Several hudred gathered to hear acclaimed jouralist Bill Kurtis iterview Mr. Brya about his roots i Mississippi, his time at Sara Lee ad about the cultural treasures he has urtured. Two sold out tours of Mr. Brya s Crab Tree Farm ad a LEGO buildig activity with 75 kids were also part of the October celebratio. Co-chairs Katie Hale ad Tom Huter (alog with their committee of Julie Carter, Lisa Frey ad Maxwell Gregory) made sure every detail was first class. A photo gallery of the evet ca be foud o the Historical Society s website. Local Leged Joh H. Brya (secod from right) ad Bill Kurtis (left) with co-chairs Katie Hale ad Tom Huter. 4

5 COLLECTIONS CORNER Help Us Solve the Mysteries of Our Photo Collectio As our museum ivetory gets uderway, we ve discovered a umber of mystery images i our photograph collectio. These photos were doated to us without ay idetificatio, ad thus we might ot kow who, or what, or whe, or where is pictured. Beyod the research that our ow staff ad voluteers are coductig about these photographs, we re hopig to draw upo the wisdom of the crowd local residets who may recogize their eighbors, eighborhood or eve themselves. Havig better descriptios ad fuller idetificatio of people ad places i our photograph collectio will improve our orgaizatio s ability to serve historical researchers, ad will also give us a wealth of images to use i future exhibits. How You Ca Help To jump start this project, we ve premiered Mystery Photo Moday o our museum Facebook page. We post a ew puzzlig photograph each Moday for our Facebook fas to solve ad so far have gotte may very helpful resposes! To joi i, just visit ad Like our page. If you re ot o Facebook, or if you have a extra hour or two o your hads, you could also help out by visitig us at the museum. We re settig up a table i our exhibit gallery that will have biders full of ukow wome ad me ad places that visitors ca browse through ad help to idetify. Cotact Curator Laurie Stei at lstei@lflbhistory.org or for more iformatio. To whet your appetite for these history mysteries, here s a photograph from our schools collectio that features a class of ukow studets from Halsey School, c. 1940s. Be sure to let us kow if you recogize ayoe. Lookig For Collectios Voluteers If you ve got a free morig or afteroo each week ad have always wated to get hads-o experiece with the old stuff i museums, we re lookig for you! The voluteer projects we have available iclude photograph scaig, filig ews clippigs i our research files, ad workig o our geealogy database of old Lake Forest phoe books. Museum staff will trai all ew voluteers basic computer skills is all you eed. Let Curator Laurie Stei kow if you re iterested at lstei@lflbhistory.org or

6 N N N ORTH SHORE INTERURBAN FROM DEPOT AVENUE TO MCKINLEY ROAD Alphabet Stories By Norma Carlso A letter from the Commadat of Naval Statio Great Lakes to Lake Forest Mayor Keee H. Addigto i July 1918 resulted i the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee movig houses ad costructig McKiley Road o a ew aligmet. The Commadat, Captai W. A. Moffett, was cocered with the lack of sufficiet road capacity to move trucks ad automobiles i support of the war effort betwee Chicago, Fort Sherida ad Great Lakes. Gree Bay Road was the oly route. Depot Aveue was o the site of the preset day bike path ext to the Uio Pacific North Lie. North Shore Lie trais operated o Depot Aveue betwee Illiois ad Woodlad Roads. A ew roadway was desired betwee Woodlad Road ad the orth limits of the city. What we ow kow as Sherida Road betwee Westleigh ad Old Elm Roads did ot exist. The, as ow, the questio was, who would fud the buildig ad maitaiig of the desired roadways? The aswer, the North Shore Lie. Four years of City Coucil deliberatios, egotiatios, ad a moutai of paperwork followed. There was always a cotetious relatioship betwee the orther lakeshore suburbs ad the North Shore Lie ad its predecessors. Whe the railroad first proposed comig through Lake Forest i 1898, Lake Forest extracted $10,000 ad used the moey to build, amog other thigs, City Hall. The devices that provided suburba commuities the ability to exercise leverage agaist the North Shore Lie were the frachise agreemets that stipulated the terms uder which the railroad could operate withi city boudaries. These agreemets were costatly beig reegotiated. The Commadat s request gave the City of Lake Forest yet aother opportuity to brig the railroad to the bargaiig table. Joh Griffith was the real estate aget for the railroad i Lake Forest for years. Begiig i 1918, the city forced the railroad to purchase the homes o what was the the east side of Depot Aveue, the lad to the east of the homes ad the pay to move the homes east to the property behid them. At the same time the City vacated what was origially Depot Aveue, ow reamed McKiley Road, allowig the railroad to remai o what the became a private right-of-way for the trais, ow the bike path. As aget for the railroad, Griffith appraised the vacat lad ad the homes, made offers to the owers based o advice from the railroad as to what they would pay, ad hadled the closigs. Durig the forthcomig costructio period may of the homes were leased, some to railroad employees ad costructio workers. Griffith foud the teats, established the lease rates, collected the rets, was the collectio aget whe the rets were ot paid, ad remitted the proceeds, et of his fees to the railroad. The stream of correspodece was prolific ad puctuated with a few tidbits of Griffith fidig properties surroudig Lake Forest that he thought the corporate officers would have a persoal iterest i. Fially roadway costructio was udertake. The railroad was required to pay all of the costructio costs. Iitially, the railroad was goig to be required to maitai the ew roadway i Lake Forest, while the city was goig to be required to maitai Sherida Road south from Westleigh to Fort Sherida, a roadway that was ot withi the city limits. Ultimately, the city was required to maitai oly the roadway withi the city limits. Costructio took place i 1923 ad Trai service alog the origial route from Waukega to Highlad Park through dowtow Lake Bluff ad Lake Forest, later kow as the Shore Lie Route, bega o Jue 23, 1898 ad was completed to Evasto o August 13, Raviia Park was built by the railroad to geerate more passeger traffic. 6 cot. o page 7

7 ALPHABET STORIES cot. from page 6 The railroad was exteded from Lake Bluff to Mudelei i 1905, from North Chicago to Milwaukee i 1908 ad via the Chicago elevated from Evasto to the Loop i To provide faster service betwee Chicago ad Milwaukee, the Skokie Valley Route opeed o Jue 5, It was built west of the suburba commuities i what later became the U. S. Highway 41 corridor. Fallig victim to the automobile, the Shore Lie Route ceased operatios o July 24, 1955 ad the Skokie Valley Route ceased operatios o Jauary 20, Fifty years later, memories of ad affectio for the North Shore Lie remai strog. Trai umber 550 is show southboud crossig Woodlad Aveue o Suday, August 15, More cars were added at the Highwood Shops for the trip to Chicago s Loop. Photo by Joh F. Humisto, courtesy Norma Carlso. North Shore Iterurba Glass-Plate Negative Collectio The images here of McKiley Road are part of a collectio of glass plate egatives doated to the Historical Society i 1982 by Harold G. Maso. Mr. Maso, who passed away i 1985, was a former presidet of the Chicago, North Shore ad Milwaukee Railroad. There are 29 glass plate egatives i the collectio, each about 8 by 10 iches i size, most of them showcasig the costructio of McKiley Road. Thaks to the support of Norma Carlso, Historical Society voluteer David Mattoo, ad the Shorelie Iterurba Historical Society, these egatives were scaed, ad we ow have beautiful, accessible digital images. Next, we hope to purchase archival boxes with special dividers desiged to support the weight of glass egatives, thus cotiuig to esure that they are preserved for future geeratios. You ca help us preserve this oe-of-a-kid glass plate egative collectio by purchasig a $50 Sposor Ticket for our North Shore Iterurba lecture o Suday, Jauary 27, Lookig orth from 215 McKiley Road i 1923, the homes have bee moved east as evideced by the rubble of the origial foudatios. Lookig south from Scott Street o November 22, Straw was placed o top of the cocrete to keep it moist as it cured. 7

8 No-Profit Orgaizatio U. S. Postage P A I D Permit No. 160 Lake Forest, IL Celebrate West Lake Forest 361 East Westmister Lake Forest, Illiois Phoe: (847) Fax: (847) Museum Hours Tuesday Wedesday Thursday Suday 1:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. The Ope Steel Highway Commemoratig the 50 th Aiversary of the Closig of the North Shore Iterurba Suday, Jauary 27, :00 pm Lily Reid Holt Memorial Chapel, Lake Forest College Where today there are bike paths, there oce stood the tracks of the North Shore Iterurba. Norma Carlso, railroad cosultat ad historia, will preset a fasciatig look at the electric railway that ra betwee Chicago ad Milwaukee. Begiig as a streetcar compay i Waukega, the North Shore lie reached Evasto over 100 years ago. Lake Forest was particularly demadig i its requiremets to grat a frachise. Diig cars ad parlor cars graced the trais ad Raviia Park was opeed by the North Shore Lie i 1904 to brig passegers to the railway. I 1916, Samuel Isull assumed cotrol ad trasformed the compay ito a legedary electric iterurba railway. This program takes place almost 50 years to the day that the last trai ra o this ope steel highway. The program is free to members of the Historical Society ad $15 for o-members. Tickets ca be purchased by visitig or callig A special ticket price of $50 helps to fud the coservatio of a oe-of-a-kid collectio of glass egative images i the collectio of the Historical Society. Read more iside about the North Shore Iterurba ad our special effort to preserve this collectio.