1937: $9.50 in Fender Bender; Trio is Not Intoxicated After All

The entries we post on a weekly basis will be from the early 1900s through the late-1930s at a time when was beginning to flourish as a community.

The entries are posted practically verbatim, except for the names of the victims or perpetrators of the crimes noted. They provide a fascinating reflection of the times and culture of that era.

Just as an example of what was going on in Lake Forest around that time, the Deerpath Inn caught fire in 1938, starting in the kitchen and spreading to the chimney. The third floor was nearly destroyed. It was rebuilt and reopened later that year. The fire is captured on film and turned into a Universal newsreel, according to the  timeline.

• Feb. 11, 1937: The maid at the Harrisons, 215 Sheridan Road, called for police at 9:35 p.m. Officers Robertson and Gansberg on call. Maid thought she heard someone in house and found it to be the houseman, whom she thought was out.

• Feb. 12, 1937: A man called at 2:12 p.m. and said that he and two other women had all received strange phone calls from a party giving the name of Montgomery. He says he wanted to hire a negress and she gave them as references. They never had anyone working for them like that. Police told telephone company to check on any future calls to the house.

• Feb. 13, 1937: A woman living in the 300 block of Westminister Avenue came to the Police Station and said that a car issued to a man at Box 462 on Green Bay Road, Lake Forest, damaged her fender backing out of parking space in square. $9.50 damage. Officers Jensen and Pfister went to see the man at the Lake Forest residence that he is employed at and he said he would get in touch with the woman and make a settlement.

• Feb. 15, 1937: Received a call from a man who reported a couple had run off road west of Westleigh Road into fence along L.M. Swift property. The man said the people in the car, two men and a woman, appeared to be intoxicated. They had left the scene of an accident while the officers arrived, but they had lost their rear license plate and light. The people and the car were apprehended by State Police, and they were taken to Waukegan Police Dept. Waukegan notified us that they were not intoxicated.

— information courtesy of John Walker.

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