By Caleb Pope After 60 years welcoming young Lake Forest children -- about 3,000 in total -- Joytime Preschool closed its doors in 2013. For decades, the school had been run by Joy and Earle Hodgen, alumni of Lake Forest College who had founded it in 1953 on Maywood Road near South Park. After her mother Joy passed away in the 1990s, Kathleen Hodgen – who had served as a teacher there – operated the school until it shut down.  Kathleen Hodgen (third from left) and others ce

In the earliest days of Lake Forest, clothes shopping meant buying bolts of cloth at James Anderson’s general store on Deerpath or stocking up on dry goods down in Chicago. Outfits were handsewn at home or designed by a custom dressmaker or tailor. 

By David A. F. Sweet Club cars flourished on the rails in the middle of the 20 th  century. Sometimes featuring wood paneling and nearly always boasting a bar, the private havens provided a civilized way to commute to and from work in Chicago and on the East Coast. Briefcases were shut and work was forgotten as bridge games, rather than a quest for profit, engrossed members. Alas, the cars have vanished. The last one rolled on the rails between Lake Bluff and Ogilvie Statio

By Liz Weithas I grew up in Lake Forest and benefited from many Spirit of 67 Foundation grants. I have vivid memories of the inflatable planetarium dome appearing in the school library, crawling in and feeling amazed by the night sky while learning about constellations and the rotation of the earth. Now, as a parent raising two children in District 67, I see the joy on my daughter’s face as she experiences the visiting scientist and excavates dinosaur bones and learns about

By Caleb Pope   The newly formed Community Fund of Lake Forest awarded its first grants to six nonprofits that support residents in need, including Fill a Heart 4 Kids. The Lake Forest organization supports children living in foster facilities and youth who are at-risk or homeless with food, critical necessities, life skills and educational support.   According to founder Annie McAveeney, children across Lake County, including at-risk youth from Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, re

By David A. F. Sweet Back in 2017, Haley Bhardwaj launched Simantikos  Dance Studio in Chicago. She emphasized social-emotional learning among her students while also teaching technical dance skills. In her spare time, she served as a dance instructor at the Chicago Public Schools. So what brought a young mother who has performed on international stages north this fall to become Program Supervisor at the Lake Forest Dance Academy (LFDA)? “I think we have a really healthy m

By Sam Sosani   The Lake Forest Water Plant never shuts down, and the six operators ensure its steady and consistent functioning, even during long nights and holidays. The result? The residents of Lake Forest enjoy access to clean water. “Water utilities are important to every single person in America,” said Mike Tiegs, the Chief Water Plant Operator. Mike Tiegs shows the t op of a membrane module filter to a group touring the Lake Forest Water Plant. Three generations of Tie

By David A. F. Sweet Erin Ammer, education director for Citadel Theatre in Lake Forest, shared a story about an 8-year-old girl. She always smiled during Citadel Theatre Education camp , but didn’t really speak. The next year, she joined Citadel’s Broadway Bootcamp Summer program. Kian Van Gerven (center) performs with other Citadel Theatre Education students in Newsies Jr. “She was singing loud and confidently, and we gave her a solo that we weren’t intending to use in a

By Kylie Daum The Lake Forest Police Department welcomed a new member to the team recently. A St. Bernard puppy named Winston will serve as a trained comfort dog, working alongside LFPD’s Social Worker Lauren Perez. Getting a comfort dog has been underway at the LFPD for some time, as police departments across the United States have been embracing social work and the importance of having different interventions for people in crisis. Lauren Perez shows Winston the beauty of M

By Judy Carmack Bross Out this month , Elawa Farm: A Timesless Treasure by author, sportswriter and Lake Forest Love Executive Editor David A. F. Sweet tells of a farm purchased in Lake Forest in 1917 by A. Watson Armour from the family of Scottish settlers who settled the verdant acres on the Illinois frontier west of what is now Waukegan Road.  Filled with history and marvelous photographs, it describes the meatpacker’s weekend home and gentleman’s farm, which now feature

By Sam Sosani The Gothic stone-arch opening of the Lake Forest Cemetery leads visitors into a space where loved ones lay at rest and where the living pay their respects. Visitors appreciate the beauty exhibited in the headstones, monuments, mausoleums, and greenery. It is difficult not to notice the visually appealing architectural details and masonry that encompass the cemetery, but there is more than just beauty; there is history. The Lake Forest Cemetery is a historic lan

By Carol Summerfield If you haven’t been by the corner of Deerpath and Washington Road lately, you might have missed the transformation...

By David A. F. Sweet While one train idled at the station, Steven Malin Jr. tried to cross the tracks in West Lake Forest with a friend in 2003. The 11-year-old did not know a freight train was heading the other way; he was struck and killed. In Steven’s obituary, the family asked for donations to be sent to the Lake Forest Parks & Recreation Department. The baseball field at Everett School is now named after Steven Malin Jr. “We thought maybe we’d get money for a new pin

By David A. F. Sweet Bruno Abate recalled recently the words his father, Alfredo, shared with him before he passed away about 30 years...

By David A. F. Sweet When plans were under review for the new Lake Forest Police Station, one key observation helped improve the design:...

By George Sigaev Leaving the bleak and barren battlefields of World War I, United States veterans—entering a society almost...

By Helena Kavanagh Some Lake Forest residents will soon notice a new item in their homes, and while the upgrade may be small in size, it...

By Jenny Liang When William Elliott, then a seventh-grader, walked into the CROYA Student Union, he had no idea how transformative the...

By Kayla Moore   Summer is always the busiest season for Lake Forest Parks & Recreation – but according to Director Mike Wick, 2025 is...

By Spencer Trees   The City of Lake Forest recently completed a sidewalk improvement project in the Whispering Oaks neighborhood,...