A few years ago I came across a quote about Samuel Insull that struck me: “The town of Libertyville, Ill. was a one-man town, and Samuel Insull once a powerful utilities magnate, was the man. Now that he has been expatriated there is a gap in the community where he was once hailed as the…
Welcome back to my series on the history of Libertyville’s next-door neighbor: Mundelein! When we left it in early 1909, Mundelein, at the time known as Rockefeller and already on its third name, was home to two railroad lines, a rapidly growing downtown, and with a vote of 55-22 had, along with Diamond Lake, become the…
In October I delivered a presentation entitled “1914: Libertyville 100 Years Ago”. At that program, an audience member asked me if the Libertyville One-Mile Track was in operation during the time. It was, but there were not many articles in the newspaper about the race track in 1914, so I had not included it in…
A few weeks ago, Lake County held its annual fair right here in Libertyville. Ever since the first fair held in September 1852, the Lake County Fair has been a huge hit with the citizens of Lake County. The fair was originally run through the Lake County Agricultural Society, which was established in 1851 to…
Welcome back to part 2 of local history librarians Sonia Schoenfield’s and Jenny Barry’s presentation about the growth of Libertyville presented to the third grade at Copeland Manor School this past May.Do you ride your bike on the railroad tracks? We do!The 1920s proved to be another time of big population growth for Libertyville. One…
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