A great David Adler villa—as this he designed for the Charles Pikes—is synonymous with Lake Forest.
By Megan McKinney
We have a suggestion for Classic Chicago readers searching the perfect snowy day book for the next blizzard we are certain to have—if not this weekend, soon. Those of you who have inherited a marvelous old house in Lake Forest may already own a copy of Lake Forest, Illinois: History and Reminiscences 1861-1961 by Edward Arpee. Check your personal library first.
If the book is not already in your possession, you can do what we did and go to trusty Amazon.
The book is strong on facts, if not images. We selected photos to illustrate the volume’s subjects—here Market Square, 1916.
The gates to the opulent Ogden Armour estate, Mellody Farm.
The entire chapter Cosmopolitanism 1908-1916 is a joy for descriptions of estates built during the era.
Exterior of Mellody Farm
Here are some of the stories we found in Prohibition 1919-1929, another delightful chapter of the book.
The Prince of Wales, later to be Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor, visited Lake Forest in 1924 as guest of Louis Swift, “in appreciation for the enormous quantities of meat products sent to the British Empire throughout the war by the Chicago Stock Yards.”
In September 1921, Bix Beiderbecke enrolled at the Lake Forest Academy. Historians have traditionally suggested that his parents sent him to Lake Forest to discourage his interest in jazz, but he went on to become “one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s.” There he is below, kneeling on the left in his lake Forest Academy baseball uniform.
In 1926, Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus and Princess Louise of Sweden were guests of Mr. and Mrs Charles H. Schweppe at their estate on Mayflower Road.
Crown Prince Gustavus Adolphus and Princess Louise of Sweden
The Charles Schweppe estate
This is just a taste of what is waiting for you in Lake Forest, Illinois: History and Reminiscences 1861-1961.
Author Photo: Robert F. Carl
