By Carol Summerfield In case you’ve opted out of large words this year, it is the 250 th  anniversary (the semiquincentennial) of the United States. Or, as it’s being branded by history museums across the U.S., America 250. Many of the historical societies and small local history museums in America began around our Bicentennial in 1976. With the 200 th  anniversary, we realized there was enough history that collecting and preserving it was worth undertaking. (Lake Forest was

By David A. F. Sweet When a first-time visitor to Lake Forest heads north on McKinley Road, oftentimes he or she is stunned by the view outside the window. “That’s your high school?” is the typical comment when seeing what, to most eyes, looks like a mansion. The Lake Forest High School building was designed by Stanley D. Anderson and opened in 1935. Once deemed the prettiest high school in Illinois by Architectural Digest , the landmark Lake Forest High School building de

By David A. F. Sweet   More than 500 crisis calls were received by the Lake Forest Police Department in 2025. Some required emergency medical services: all were related to mental health. Later this year, a new member of the department will be part of the response: Winston, a 100-pound (and growing) St. Bernard who is training to become the City’s first comfort dog. K-9 dogs have long been part of police departments, but comfort dogs – which provide emotional support to those

By Alexandra Moreno Last fall, something unique happened at Lake Forest College. At the Krebs Center for the Humanities, residents of Lake Forest gathered as participants to engage with one of the most transformative forces of our time: artificial intelligence (AI). Not your typical school building: The Krebs Center is a stunning spot to learn about AI. The four-week course, Artificial Intelligence and Everyday Life: Understanding, Engaging, and Applying AI in the Real World

By Kristin Elliott Dickinson Hall was packed with energy as dads and daughters took over the dance floor for Lake Forest Parks & Recreation's annual Daddy Daughter Dance on Feb. 28. The evening was filled with dancing, laughter, and unforgettable memories as dads and daughters celebrated a special night together. The hula hoop contest brought out the competitive side, and the dance floor stayed busy all evening with daughters pulling their dads out for “just one more song.”

By Laurie Stein Chicago's retail landscape transformed dramatically in the early 1900s. At the heart of it was the emergence of the department store, which provided a more efficient and appealing shopping experience by consolidating merchandise categories under one roof and offering more sizing options for clothing. No name loomed larger in this revolution than Chicago’s flagship department store Marshall Field & Co. With gleaming marble floors, soaring atriums, and iconic s

By Megan Ross Officer Matthew Allen is a name that is new to many, but in the 2026-2027 school year, his name will flood the halls as he fills Officer Mark Long’s shoes as Lake Forest High School’s new School Resource Officer (SRO). LFHS welcomes a new school resource officer as Long’s four-year rotation is coming to an end. Allen comes from seven years at the Lake Forest Police Department,  and he has training in different specialties at the LFPD, such as: SWAT, drone opera

By Carol Summerfield After weathering the Great Depression and the austerity and rations of World War II, downtown Lake Forest was ready for a shopping bonanza. Decades of restrictions meant there was an incredible pent-up demand for shopping: residents sought out everything from new clothes to imported food to the new craze for midcentury home décor. Americans were ready to get their consumerism on. And they did. Local shopping districts like Market Square were ripe to benef

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...