The Train Station and Lake Forest Preservation Foundation: A Connection to the Past

By Carol Summerfield

In looking at the photos of Lake Forest’s 1800s business district, it is hard to see any hint of the picturesque city that we know today. The East Lake Forest train station and the business district looked as much like a rugged Western town as anything in a John Wayne Western film. Dirt roads, clapboard buildings, and the telltale evidence of horses in the roadways definitely gave little indication of the elegant city that was to come.

Western Avenue looked a bit like a Western town in 1911.

In 1899, the fourth version of the East Lake Forest train station began. Designed by the architectural firm of Frost and Granger, the brick-and-wood structure was designed to last decades longer than its three predecessors had.

In an example of a business connection that was a regular part of the late 1800s Lake Forest life, the architects Charles S. Frost and Alfred H. Granger were married to sisters, Mary and Belle Hughitt. It also happened that the young women’s father was Marvin Hughitt, the first president of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, and the man who controlled the fate of the train station. So, Frost and Granger were given the contract to re-envision a train station that would represent the rising architectural caliber of Lake Forest.

The new station was completed in 1900 in the Tudor style that would be central to the design of Market Square sixteen years later. With the beautiful red-brick exterior and wood-trimmed interior, the building served thousands of commuters each year.

A view of the Lake Forest Train Station in 1913. But by 1976, the building was in disrepair from deferred maintenance. The railroad’s solution was to knock down the Frost and Granger building and put up the sort of small utilitarian brick structures that dot the Union Pacific North Shore line from here to Ogilvie Station in downtown Chicago.

In 1976, the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation launched. One of its first projects was to do a comprehensive evaluation of the work needed to repair the train station building, instead of replacing it. Over the next couple of years, LFPF raised $400,000 for the immediate repair needs and created a plan for substantial restoration of the station to its original grandeur.

A worker helps restore the train station.

That four-phase renovation work required ongoing fundraising in partnership with the City of Lake Forest, negotiations with the railroad, and oversight of the preservation efforts to ensure that the building maintained the spirit of the original design. The work initially focused heavily on the exterior, including winning an $835,900 federal grant in 2011 to fix the roof with slate tiles, like the ones the building had in 1900. The Preservation Foundation set about raising additional funding to restore the wainscoting, install thinner drywall, and refinish the wooden benches that had been an integral design feature inside the building. The Foundation also planned to expand the bathrooms and improve the electrical systems and lighting.

By 2018, the restoration work was complete. The partnership efforts between the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation and the City of Lake Forest became a model for future preservation efforts in Lake Forest, including the restoration of the Deer Path Inn and the revitalization of Bank Lane.

If you want to find out more about the history of preservation projects like this and about the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation, please come check out the free exhibit at the History Center (509 E. Deerpath), Tuesdays-Thursdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m. or Saturdays 1 p.m.-4 p.m. The exhibition opens on Aug. 20 and runs until Sept. 12.