Historical Society Commemorates Community’s 150th with Timeline

To coincide with Lake Forest's 150th anniversary in 2011, the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society is creating a timeline of Lake Forest's history with a particular focus on the past 50 years.

The Timeline will launch on the Historical Society website on the city's anniversary date, Feb. 21, 2011.

"As there hasn't been a general survey published since 1960, in honor of the centennial, a timeline will potentially enable a local author to possibly piece together information for a book, a reference document," said Laurie Stein, curator at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society.

The Historical Society is collecting information through a variety of sources, including local books and newspapers, histories of estates, early minutes from City Council meetings and other city documents to ensure the timeline is as accurate and up-to-date as possible.

"We have so many images and information from the early 1900s to the mid-1960s," Stein said. "While we are enthusiastic about celebrating what has already been done, we would love to have the opportunity to acknowledge the many wonderful things that have taken place in the last 50 years as well. We are hopeful that the Timeline of Lake Forest's history will facilitate this goal."

The Timeline provides an array of interesting facts, including in 1858 the first hotel in Lake Forest, designed by Asher Carter, opened on what is now Triangle Park. Or Lake Forest Academy's baseball team loses to the Chicago White Sox, 31-1., in 1876.

Legacy Project Benefits Future Generations

In conjunction with the Timeline, the Lake Forest Legacy Project has been launched as an ongoing historical resource to collect information to benefit future generations. While the Timeline of Lake Forest's history gains its information from past periodicals and notes, the Lake Forest Legacy Project reaches out to everyone in the community – businesses, clubs, groups and institutions are encouraged to fill out a form on their group.

Groups can download a six-page Institutional History Documentation Form from the Historical Society website or pick up a hard copy from the Historical Society. The form seeks information on when the business opened, who were the club's founding members, what awards has the institution won, what events has the group sponsored, and what changes has the group's logo look undergone if any and much more.

The form should be returned to the Historical Society where it will become part of the Lake Forest Legacy Project Archives, which will be accessible to the public for research and preserved for posterity. Groups can also submit copies or originals of other items of historic interest (newsletters, advertisements, photographs, meeting minutes, membership lists, press clippings, etc.) to provide greater depth to their historical record.

The Legacy Project will continue throughout 2011.