The residents of Libertyville and Mundelein witnessed rapid change during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from the installation of Libertyville’s first electric lights in June 1897 to Mundelein’s first telephone in the early 1900’s. Few changes, however, had quite the impact than the transition from horse-drawn carriages to our new ubiquitous cars. So let…
The name Petranek’s has been on the storefront at 426 N. Milwaukee Avenue since about 1950, but the drug store can trace its lineage back at least 140 years. A drug store has been in business in this same location since the 1870s. Through a series of posts, I will trace the history of the…
It is Women’s History Month and when it comes to Libertyville history there is no shortage of inspiring women who have lived and served in this town to make it what it is today. Our local history librarian Jenny Barry is back for a special edition of The Past is Present, highlighting 3 such women.…
Welcome back to my first post of 2019! While talking with a coworker about a potential topic for a post, she mentioned that she had just finished putting new file folders into our history collection, and suggested I take a look at the file on the Libertyville Business Men’s Association. There was only a single…
While researching the Decker & Bond drug store, I came across an article from the early 1940s about Mark Neville, pharmacist. The article mentioned that he was a member of the American Legion which made me wonder if he served in World War I and, if so, was he on our list of those that…
