One of my favorite items in the collection of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society is a proposal letter from Franklin P. Dymond to Flora Colby. While it wasn’t written on Valentine’s Day, the sentiments conveyed hit all the right notes for the holiday. Libertyville Ill. Dec 5th 1880. My Dear Friend Flora, I presume you will…
In about 1892 the small village of Libertyville (population 800) was poised for growth, but one ingredient for success was lacking: a sound financial and banking system. At that time there were only two banks in the whole of Lake County and they were both east of the Des Plaines River: First National Bank in…
The list of famous (and infamous) Depression-era outlaws is a long one, from Ma Barker of the Barker-Karpis gang to Fred “Killer” Burke, about whom whole books could, and in many cases have, been written about. Today however, I’d like to tell the story of some lesser-known, but just as brazen, criminals who between 1930…
The story of the Public Service Building in Libertyville is very much connected with Samuel Insull, founder of the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois, Commonwealth Edison, and owner of numerous banks. In 1907 Insull bought a large acreage south of Libertyville and built and lived in the house now known as the Cuneo mansion.…
Shelf Life 