Market Squared: Decades by Nicki Snoblin

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

At its beginnings, Market Square broke new ground. In 1916, as the nation’s first artfully designed shopping center, it linked pedestrian, automobile, and train, and heralded a new era in urban planning. It completely revolutionized Lake Forest’s business district from an afterthought to a focal point of the community. And the forward-thinking members of the Lake Forest Improvement Trust, who developed Market Square, formed one of the nation’s very first real estate investment trusts. Now, in 2016, we celebrate Market Square’s transformative impact on Lake Forest, which has lasted a century and will continue centuries into the future.

“Market Squared: Ten Decades of Business and Beauty” highlights the shops, people and events that have made our community such a special place to live and work. To view the exhibition, visit each shop window in Market Square, as well as the exterior of the East Lake Forest Train Station.

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SPONSORS Tower Level ($3,000-$5,000)

Greensward Level ($1,000-$2,999)

ANONYMOUS

Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors

Paula Berghorn Polito, In loving memory of my dad, Fred H. Berghorn

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Fountain Level ($999 and below)

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

WESTERN AVENUE BEFORE MARKET SQUARE

It’s hard to imagine Lake Forest without Market Square as a focal point, but during the city’s first 50 years, the business district was little more than an afterthought. The 1857 town plat, with its curving roads designed around the ravines, highlighted private homes and school campuses. Business was something that was conducted in Chicago and there was little necessity seen to incorporate it into the town plan.

However, as the town’s population grew, so did its demand for local goods and services, and a piecemeal business district slowly arose on Western Avenue across from the train tracks. By 1910, the mix of wood frame and brick structures, with false fronts of various heights, presented a startling contrast with the well-planned neighborhoods and beautiful new town buildings, like City Hall, the train depot, and Gorton School. Behind the storefronts was even worse – a scraggly alley with a hodgepodge of barns, storehouses, and garbage.

Though ramshackle in appearance, Western Avenue was a vibrant place where people lived, worked, and transacted business. Most of the shopkeepers resided above or behind their shops, and their children grew up playing in the alley. Locals could shop for groceries at S. C. Orr, get outfitted at one of half a dozen tailors, satisfy their sweet tooth at Monahan’s Chocolate Shop, get treatment for an ailment at one of two competing drug stores, Nordling’s (later Krafft’s) or French’s, hire a driver at Julian Matthews’ livery, get a haircut from Charlie Paulson, and purchase supplies to fix a broken fence at C. L. Harder’s Hardware.

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■ Receipt for purchase

■ Looking southwest on Western Avenue, c. 1910

of nails, drapery pins, and a sewing machine, bought by Delavan Smith in 1906.

■ Rear of the Speidel building on Western Avenue

■ Looking northwest on Western Avenue, c. 1913

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■ Lake Forest, 1862

c. 1900. This rare photo of the “alley” end of the future Market Square property shows Lawrence H. W. Speidel’s brick barn, which housed tanks for his oil and gasoline business; a shed which harbored his wagons; and the stable area for the family’s horses and cow.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

BUILDING MARKET SQUARE

In 1911, a group of Lake Foresters began to brainstorm how they might ideally remake the business district for the benefit of the town and its residents. The result, five years later, is viewed as the nation’s first planned shopping center, uniquely designed to incorporate traffic by foot, by train, and by automobile. The visionaries credited with the inception of the project are architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and developer Arthur T. Aldis. In 1913, with Cyrus H. McCormick Jr., David B. Jones, D. Mark Cummings and John V. Farwell Jr., they founded the Lake Forest Improvement Trust to raise money and purchase property.

Local agent John Griffith was hired to negotiate with the 11 property owners on Western Avenue and Forest Avenue, who began to raise their prices after word got out. To support their vision, the Trustees solicited funding largely from local residents, who became shareholders in the project. The eventual cost was about $750,000.

■ Looking west, at the future bank building C

(later Marshall Field & Co.), 1915.

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Shaw finalized his third, and last, set of plans in 1915. Earlier versions featured a shallower park, a library, and smaller towers. Construction began in the fall and was largely complete by the summer of 1916, with the Young Men’s Club building finalized the next spring.

■ Because the lots purchased

by the Improvement Trust were so deep – extending 260 feet back from Western Avenue – Shaw was able to create a U-shaped design, maximizing business frontage on the main street facing the train station, as well as creating room for parking and navigation by car. The U, framed by the two towers, surrounded a central park with two rows of large elm trees and a fountain. (Image from The Western Architect, October 1917)

■ Looking east toward the train

station, 1915, before demolition or removal of existing buildings on Western Avenue.

■ The Speidel building on Western Avenue, c. 1903.

■ Chicago Daily News,

This building was moved to Bank Lane, where it has housed The Left Bank and the Lake Forest Resale Shop. Another Western Avenue building, now 1 Market Square Court, harbored Market Square’s heating system for many years.

April 15, 1916 ■ The north side of the square was finished first, by early spring of 1916.

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1910s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Market Square had its first tenant when barber Charlie Paulson started cutting hair here in April 1916. Others would follow that summer and fall as more storefronts became ready. The new shopping center also featured apartments on the second floor, allowing shopkeepers and their employees to live above their workplaces. Although lauded in architectural circles and among proponents of the City Beautiful movement, Market Square did not immediately garner universal approbation in Lake Forest. Set back as it was from the street, the U-shaped plan aroused concerns among shopkeepers about foot traffic, which the Trustees tried to address by securing the bank as anchor tenant and providing space in “back” to the Post Office.

There were other growing pains. The apartments were too cold, the streets weren’t paved yet, the boiler house emitted too much smoke. Some stores and offices still sat vacant. But with America’s entry into World War I in 1917, Market Square quickly was drafted into service as a rallying site. The War Emergency Union opened a Red Cross office and a canning kitchen in the unleased spaces. On Armistice Day in November 1918, the celebratory parade ended in the Square, where Mayor Keene Addington addressed a jubilant crowd.

■ To ensure that Market

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Square was viewed as a community-wide endeavor, rather than a project executed by the town’s elite, the Trustees incorporated space for two of Lake Forest’s most egalitarian, civic-minded organizations: the Young Men’s Club, which owned this building, and the Young Women’s Christian Association, which rented space on the second floor of the bank.

■ Drawing from Lake Forest Art and History, 1916

■ Most contemporaries compared the design to

■ On December 2, 1917,

an English village square, but architect Howard Van Doren Shaw incorporated his usual mix of styles to create something unique: Flemish, Bavarian, Renaissance, Palladian, Baroque, and so on. He added extra corners to capitalize on window space and varied the storefronts to give them definition.

the flagpole was raised and dedicated “to the men of Lake Forest who give themselves for the safety of their country and the world,” by troops and a large band from Fort Sheridan.

■ Lake Forester, June 2, 1917. This

ad ran several times in the summer of 1917 advertising available space in Market Square’s storefronts.

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1920s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

It was in the 1920s that Market Square truly grew into the heart of Lake Forest. The city began to install the large Christmas tree in the greensward, rather than at Triangle Park, each winter. The Lake Forest Garden Club opened a flower mart on summer Saturdays, selling plants and cut flowers from the gardens of members, with proceeds benefiting local causes. When President Warren G. Harding died in office in 1923, a memorial service was held here. The American Institute of Architects recognized Howard Van Doren Shaw for his extraordinary career in May 1926, awarding him their gold medal; less than a week after the announcement of this honor, Shaw passed away at age 56. C

During the decade, four shops opened that became mainstays: the Sports Shop and Stanley F. Kiddle in 1922; J. B. Garnett in 1921; and the Trading Post in 1925. An annual July 4th baseball game pitted the “8 O’Clock Boys,” who commuted to work in Chicago, against the “Market Squares,” drawn from the local merchants.

Market Square was more than a community hub – to those like young Fred Berghorn, it was home. Like many of the Square’s merchants and staff, Fred and his family lived in an apartment above the Sports Shop, where Ruth Berghorn worked as a seamstress.

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■ Fred Berghorn, age 9 months,

in Market Square in 1920. His family lived in one of the second floor apartments, above the Sports Shop where his mother Ruth worked as a seamstress. Loan of Paula Berghorn Polito.

■ North end of Market

Square, 1927. Visible are Modern Laundry; Mayer Kubelsky, clothier; C. F. Linderholm’s bakery; and Garnett & Co. dry goods.

■ Lake Forester, June 23, 1922.

■ Chicago Tribune,

May 6, 1926. ■ Forester yearbook, 1924

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1930s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

The 1930s were a period of transition and toil in Market Square, as tenants and landlord alike strove to stay afloat during the Depression. By 1932, the vast majority of merchants had requested rent reductions, and with little recourse, the Trust lowered rent by 10 percent. Some, like Rasmussen Bros. Boot Shop, Lake Forest Hardware Co., and Pappas Bros. Confectionery, could not survive the lean years.

The Lake Forest Improvement Trust itself went through some changes during the 1930s. The original Trustees resigned in 1930 to make way for the next generation: Graham Aldis, John A. Chapman, Albert D. Farwell, Woodbury S. Ober, George Richardson, and Farwell Winston. The founders had not expected to maintain the complex permanently but to sell it off eventually to their tenants. With the abysmal real estate market, this appeared increasingly unlikely, and the new trustees made innovative provisions to organize as a precursor of the modern real estate investment trust.

All was not doom and gloom, however; businesses like Smiths Men’s Store belied the trend and opened during this decade. The U. S. government built a beautiful new Art Deco post office. The relocation of the bank in 1931 made way for Marshall Field & Co., which would anchor the Square for 75 years. The legendary Jack Benny turned up at his brother-in-law’s shop and signed autographs. And the Lake Forest Market Squares basketball team, sponsored by several local merchants, made its debut in March 1930 at a tournament in Waukegan.

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■ Lake Forester,

February 15, 1934

■ 1933 Post Office

building, pictured on the cover of the Lake Forester

■ Lake Forester, August 13, 1936

■ Chicago Tribune,

May 31, 1931 ■ Lake Forester,

August 5, 1937 ■ Group of YWCA girls preparing to go to

Mid-Winter Camp, 1938.

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market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

1940s

The World War II years saw little turnover in the shops of Market Square, as the country pulled together and up out of the Depression. Merchants advertised Victory Bonds alongside their own goods. The Girl Scouts collected scrap metal in the Square and the Trustees finally agreed to allow band concerts. After the war, change was afoot. With dwindling funds and membership rosters, both the Young Men’s Club and the YWCA left Market Square, yielding to the City Recreation Department and Marshall Field’s expansion. Two longtime tenants, Helanders and the Forest Bootery, arrived in 1949.

In 1946, after the grass had been trampled the previous Easter, the Lake Forest Improvement Trust voted not to allow use of the Square for charitable sales. With nowhere else to go, the Episcopal Church approached the merchants, who agreed that the annual sale could go forward, taking place in parking areas and streets.

The next year, the Trustees, partnering with the Lake Forest Garden Club, authorized a new landscape plan for the Square. It was designed by Helen Milman, wife of Ralph Milman, Market Square’s architect on retainer for occasional building updates. Her plan added a concrete sidewalk along the greensward, as well as a few benches, and planted hedges along the curb.

■ Photo

by Ward McMasters. Loan of Jean McMasters Grost.

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■ Girl Scouts scrap metal

drive during World War II. Photo by Ward McMasters.

■ Fred Berghorn in his Navy

uniform, 1945. Loan of Paula Berghorn Polito.

■ Chicago Tribune,

April 12, 1946 ■ Lake Forester, 1940s

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■ Note the War Loan Drive sign in the greensward.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

1950s

The 1950s found Market Square striving to accommodate the growth of the Baby Boom era. The City and the Lake Forest Improvement Trust confronted a scarcity of parking in the business district. In response, they mounted a parking education campaign for residents and prohibited tenants and employees from parking in the Square except for conducting business. The existing lots became so congested that in 1954, the Trust even investigated converting the greensward into additional parking spaces. Fortunately for posterity, this was deemed inadvisable and instead the Trust purchased the vacant lot north of the Post Office in 1955 to add more options for drivers. That same year, the City of Lake Forest adopted a comprehensive Master Plan to address the issue as well.

New merchants also catered to a young and growing population. Garnett & Co. expanded to two additional storefronts; the Lake Forest Sports Shop added a Children’s Shop; and the Surprise Shop toy store and Vivian Petersen’s maternity shop both opened during this decade.

■ 1950

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■ Lake Forester, 1956

■ Chicago Tribune,

September 11, 1958. The Deer Path Art League held its first art fair in Market Square in 1955.

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■ Fitzgerald’s Cigar Store interior, c. 1950

1960s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

In the 1960s Market Square turned 50, and began to betray markers of middle age. The iconic elms in the greensward showed symptoms of Dutch Elm disease. A decades-long relationship ended when Gilbert Rayner & Associates took over management of Market Square from John Griffith, Inc., in 1968. Over the previous 20 years, tenants had demanded larger, more visible signage over their stores, reflecting contemporary advertising. Glass transom windows had been filled in and original architectural features covered. The Trust even had to invest in an evening security patrol for their property, to protect it from vandals and disaffected youth.

But Market Square remained a vital place. Young and old alike gathered there, marveling at the Lake Forest Day parade, trying out new bicycles at Kiddles, playing games at the Rec Center, exchanging knitting patterns at the Little Wool Shop, picking up prescriptions at Krafft’s, chatting at one of the second-floor beauty shops, ordering a new outfit at Marshall Field’s, listening to new tracks at Best Record Shop, or snacking on a cookie at Market Square Pastries.

■ c. 1969

■ Lake Forester,

1966

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■ Forester yearbook, 1963.

■ Lake Forest Day parade, 1965 ■ Chicago Tribune, ■ Lake Forest Police Association baseball team Little

League trophy presentation, August 18, 1962

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February 12, 1961

1970s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

In 1971, the Chicago Tribune ran a feature article on Lake Forest which stated that Market Square “usually impresses newcomers as having a kind of great-aunt dowdiness. But most find themselves defending its cramped status quo against slurs from outsiders like they would a great-aunt’s virtue.” With Hawthorn (1973) and Northbrook Court (1976) both opening during this decade, Market Square faced competition from the prevailing mercantile trend, the shopping mall. But with the nationwide Bicentennial Celebration turning people’s minds to the past, Market Square’s history began to transform into an asset.

In 1979, it was noted on the National Register of Historic Places as the first planned shopping center in the U.S. And though some of the retailers may have been perceived as old-fashioned, they continued to offer personal service and stock the latest products.

The 1970s also saw a long-planned adornment finally come to fruition. In July 1975, Sylvia Shaw Judson’s “Boy Dancing” sculpture was installed in the niche on the north wall, the space her father Howard Van Doren Shaw had intended for her work in 1916.

■ Lake Forester, 1976

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■ The Deer Path Art League’s

Art Fair on the Square, 1979

■ 1975

■ “Boy Dancing”

sculpture by Sylvia Shaw Judson

■ 1975

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1980s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Change was the watchword in Market Square through the 1980s. Crucial capital improvements were needed, but modifications in tax laws had made it difficult for the Lake Forest Improvement Trust to fund them. Further, the 1913 trust agreement required sale of the property within 20 years of the death of the last of the children of the original trustees, which meant by the year 2000. Thus, the Trustees made the determination to sell Market Square, and in 1984, they found their buyer in Broadacre Management. Broadacre had proved its bona fides as a caretaker of local historic structures in 1982, when the company purchased and renovated the former Young Men’s Club building into a retail office complex. C

■ Market Square Court, 1985.

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Photo by Tony Armour.

Broadacre proceeded to embark on major renovation and building projects, refurbishing second floor apartments into offices and working with architect John Vinci to restore storefronts to more closely resemble their 1916 state. The old service drive to the south was transformed into the cobblestoned, arcaded Market Square Court, with the Deerpath Gallery and the Water Closet moving into the old Hahn Brothers storage

building. The new owners also sought to shake up Market Square’s merchandise mix, bringing in national retailers like Talbots, Williams-Sonoma and B. Dalton to compete with nearby shopping malls. Finally, in 1984 Broadacre deeded the greensward and surrounding pavement to the City of Lake Forest as a perpetual park. That holiday season, the City sponsored its first tree lighting.

■ John Coleman

and Robert Meers of Broadacre Management, 1985.

■ Lake Forester, May 31, 1984

■ Sylvia Shaw Judson’s sculpture “Girl ■ Construction on

Market Square Court, 1984

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■ Market Square during the holiday season, c. 1982

with Baby on Shoulder” was installed atop the center pedestal of the fountain in 1982. The original design was completed in the 1960s.

1990s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

In the 1990s, Market Square found itself emulated in communities near and far, as towns began to turn a more critical eye to their central business districts. Howard Van Doren Shaw’s design, uniting car, rail, and foot, clearly had staying power. The Square, especially the central green space, now owned by the City of Lake Forest, was more in demand than ever: open air markets, parades, concerts, art fairs, tree lightings, book sales. But decades of such events, and the ravages of time and weather, had taken their toll. Market Square was in need of rejuvenation, both above ground and below.

Enter Market Square 2000, a nonprofit created with leadership from the Lake Forest Garden Club to partner with the City government to renovate Market Square’s infrastructure and landscape. The $1.6 million project upgraded electrical service and sewer systems, replenished trees and plantings, updated seating, added brick walkways, and restored the fountain.

■ Friends of the Lake Forest Library book sale, 1991.

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■ Brochure mailed to Lake Forest residents

by Market Square 2000.

■ Chicago Tribune,

November 20, 1997

■ Amidei Mercatino,

■ Lake Forest Day parade, 1994.

■ Spring 1999

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a produce, flower and specialty open-air market run by Italian immigrant Ermanno Amidei and his wife Judith in the walkway between the former bank building and the former Young Men’s Club building. Pictured in 1996.

2000s

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Market Square in the new millennium has been marked by a series of endings and new beginnings. Several longtime tenants, including Marshall Field & Co., Helanders, and The Trading Post, have closed, as did more recent favorites like Jolly Good Fellows; others, such as Griffith, Grant & Lackie and the Lake Forest Book Store, have relocated elsewhere in town. In November 2013, L3 Capital, a Chicago-based real estate investment firm, purchased Market Square from Broadacre Management for $35.5 million. The new owners embarked on a multi-million dollar renovation project, seeking to restore Howard Van Doren Shaw’s 1916 vision. There’s no doubt that Market Square has changed with the times. Over the course of its 100-year history, the community it was built to serve has quintupled in population. But

its towers continue to serve as beacons, beckoning walkers, drivers and train commuters alike. While patrons no longer visit the Square to send a telegram, test drive a Hupmobile, or shoot a round of pool, they can still grab a pastry, marvel at the holiday tree, get their bike fixed and try on a pair of shoes. Amidst all the comings and goings, Market Square’s twin pillars of business and beauty remain.

■ 2016 C

■ 2015

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■ 2015

■ Market Square restoration

project, fall 2014

■ 2015

■ Tree being put in place for the

2015 Market Square tree lighting.

www.lflbhistory.org

■ 2003