New Book Tells Amazing Journey of Elawa Farm

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 features an expansive garden, café and education offerings, saved by the City of Lake Forest and a host of volunteers.

“This is the story of many starts and stops, where even for a time no one knew what the mission was for the property’s restoration,” Sweet said. “Tumbling-down buildings and gardens turned to jungles with no large donors in sight. What would happen years later could not have been predicted.”

Determined people overcame significant challenges to restore Elawa Farm. Sweet, who is the author of Three Seconds in Munich and Lamar Hunt as well as the 125^th-anniversary book about the Onwentsia Club, writes in the introduction:

“This is the story of how a farm run by prominent Lake Forest families for generations was purchased in disrepair by the City of Lake Forest and, through the hard work of visionaries and volunteers, was transformed into a beloved setting that enriches the greater Lake Forest community.  It has been the center of experiential learning that broadens access to education and nutritious food.”

Sweet wanted to tell the story of what can happen when determined people work together to overcome significant challenges. His book celebrates Elawa’s resurrection, as it has become a destination for celebrations, weddings and parties with also delightful dining in a café, which serves food from its gardens. 

Architect Alfred Hopkins, known for transforming farms into country estates for Louis Comfort Tiffany and others, created the farm complex. Architect David Adler designed a number of elegant buildings. Chicago landscape architect Ralph Rodney Root developed the gardens.

Sweet spent a year on the project, interviewing descendants of the Armours and the Carrolls, who had acquired the property from the Armour family in the 1950s. Karen McGovern, an Armour descendant, recalled visiting her grandparents there and seeing old-fashioned slot machines around for guests to use and Halloween parties with haunted mazes for exploring. The Wallace Carroll family continued the fun and lived at Elawa Farm full-time. Barbara Carroll recalled the tunnel that linked the two gatehouses built by David Adler, and how much fun 18 grandchildren had exploring them—and sometimes locking one another up. The Carroll family remembered Easter egg hunts and skeet shooting parties.

Sweet talked with Ashley Maentz, a former member of the Lake Forest City Council, who in 1999 was assigned to investigate what could be done with the 16.5 acres, which had been acquired by the city, a mix then of buildings in disrepair and gardens overgrown with buckthorn and weeds.  We spoke recently with Maentz, who served as the first president of the Elawa Farm Foundation from 2002-2010.

The beautiful cupola was in disrepair when the City of Lake Forest purchased the property.

“The City Council said to me, ‘See what you can do with this,’” Maentz said. “It took a lot. No one knew what we had but recognized that it had lots of usable space. We began with an open meeting for city residents to get their ideas.  The only suggestion was a water park, and we knew we didn’t want that. We are a town that believes in preservation.

“We started out building a public-private partnership, which is never easy. What would it take to restore the buildings that had been empty for years; would they have to be taken down?  It would involve much money, but an anonymous donor stepped up to help.

“Volunteers played key roles. Deedee Borland and Marion Cartwright found information about the early gardens at the Art Institute of Chicago library and became such tenacious volunteers. They created a crew to remove the buckthorn and planted pumpkins several seasons, along with other crops, in the organic gardens. They started a farmer’s market in downtown Lake Forest with the produce, jams and jellies, with proceeds going to the Elawa Farm Foundation.”

Maentz worked for more than 10 years on the project and, in the process, received huge boxes of old records, photos and papers brought to her by family members and others.

“The blessing of David’s book is that he brought this all together and interviewed family members,” she said. “This is a place that shaped our community, and David’s book tells its story. 

“People should also come and just have lunch at the café.  The food is just amazing. Elawa is such a special place.”

This story originally appeared in Classic Chicago magazine. Purchase the new book by visiting the Elawa Farm holiday markets Nov. 26 or Dec. 5-7 or by visiting the Lake Forest Book Store starting Nov. 24.