Historical Photo Answer: This is the First Deerpath Inn

This one was tough.

Didn't provide a lot of clues other than the first Deerpath Inn, which was originally the house of the William Sage Johnston family. The house was initially located on part of the site of today's Gorton Community Center on Illinois, according to information from the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society.

Gail Hodges had it right. Art Miller was also helpful in expounding on the property and the era.

The City purchased the property in 1894 to erect a school, and the Johnston house was moved north to Deerpath where it became a hotel. With a rapid growth in summer seasonal recreation, necessity for more weekend lodgings had grown as well.

In 1901 the new owners of the Deerpath Inn, the Pattersons, remodeled the building. Mrs. Patterson sold the hotel to Edwin Burgess in 1925. By June 1928, the plan for a Lake Forest Hotel Co. proposed to erect an inn at Bank Lane and Illinois Road where theis currently situated.

Appreciate your continued participation. Don't forget Tuesday night is the re-enactment of the at 7:30 p.m. at .

We'll be back again Sunday with a historical photo.