Market Squared: Storefronts

KRAFFT'S BUILDING

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Krafft’s Drug Store ■ 1916-1982

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When Market Square was in development, Western Avenue druggist Carl L. Krafft bought the property to the south and had Howard Van Doren Shaw design a building in harmony with the Square. His drug store shared a wall with Market Square, as well as the heating plant. Krafft’s was famed for its soda fountain, which served Wisconsin ice cream and food prepared onsite. In 1982 it moved to the rehabbed Young Men’s Club building on Forest Avenue.

Lake Forest Bank & Trust Co.

Lake Forest Place information office

A community bank, locally owned and managed, opened in December 1991 with 12 employees. In 1994 it moved to brand new quarters at Bank Lane and Westminster.

A showroom for the new senior living facility and condominiums on Pembridge Drive.

■ 1991-1994

■ 1995-1998

EJ Mirage ■ 2000-2005

The first of three Market Square locations for this gift shop founded in 1995 by Edna Schneider and Jennifer Schneider Keal (E and J).

Baytree National Bank

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Established in 2000 by Howard Adams, first opening in the Loop and then here in 2001.

The Federal Savings Bank ■ 2015-Present

1917

The Federal Savings Bank acquired Baytree National Bank in January 2015. It was originally founded in 2011 by brothers Steve and John Calk and became one of the fastest growing banks in the nation.

Krafft’s interior, undated

www.lflbhistory.org

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

SPACES 1-2

C.T. Gunn Co. Grocers

The Swiss Colony Wine & Cheese Shop

■ 1916-1927

Scots-born Charles T. Gunn arrived in 1889, first clerking in James Anderson’s shop and then opening his own grocery in 1897.

Gunn sold his business in 1927 and moved to Florida, where he grew and shipped citrus fruits to northern climes, including Lake Forest.

■ 1975-1989

1917

Though mainly a mail-order business based out of Monroe, Wisconsin, The Swiss Colony at one time also had over 100 franchises around the country.

Cheese and food gifts were a specialty, including picnic baskets for Ravinia concert-goers.

Community Service Grocery and Market ■ 1927-1945 C

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Henry Field and Louis Abrams of Wilmette purchased the grocery from C. T. Gunn, adding a meat market. In 1943, the Office of Price Administration suspended the store for 10 days from dealing in rationed foods, citing over 50 violations, mostly overselling.

Abrams said he had customers “who don’t take no for an answer.

They demand a specialized service and are willing to pay for it, and I don’t see why they can’t.”

Hahn Brothers Community Service Grocery & Market ■ 1945-1969

Brothers Max and Bert Hahn bought the store in 1945, running it for 25 years. They used the building that became 1 Market Square Court for storage.

1942

Lake Forester 1976

Lake Forest Food & Wine ■ 1990-2014

A sandwich shop and restaurant, which spun off the wine portion into Courtyard Wines, just across the courtyard at 1 Market Square Court, in 2008.

Starbucks ■ 2016

The coffee chain moved to this location from Bank Lane in the summer of 2016, adding its “Evenings” program after the City of Lake Forest approved a special liquor license so they could sell beer and wine.

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 3

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

John Griffith Real Estate/ Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors ■ 1916-2014

John Griffith was an active player in the development of Market Square, with his efforts in securing the Western Avenue property as well as his accurate rental forecasts which gave investors an idea of their future returns. His real estate firm became the longest tenant of Market Square, at nearly 99 years.

John Griffith Real Estate, briefly called John Griffith and Sons in the 1920s, incorporated in 1928 and was known as John Griffith Inc. until 1985, when it merged with Century 21 T. J. Grant and became Griffith, Grant & Lackie Realtors.

John Griffith’s nephew Melville Lackie joined the firm in 1922; under their leadership, the firm orchestrated the growth of the community in the 1920s and

1930s, both new estates and neighborhoods. They also managed Market Square for the Lake Forest Improvement Trust from 1917 to 1968, collecting rent, coordinating with tenants, and overseeing repairs.

In 2014, when their lease was not renewed, Griffith, Grant & Lackie moved into a larger office on Deerpath. They remain Lake Forest’s oldest real estate firm.

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1917

Lake Forester 1945 John Griffith

2003

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SPACE 4

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Dr. G. G. French’s Pharmacy

Griffis Drug Store

Century 21 Realtors

Wenban sold his interest in the business to Griffis in 1939. Griffis added a new modern lunch room in 1945, serving breakfast to morning commuters and supper sandwiches as well.

This realty business, headed by Thomas J. Grant, merged with John Griffith Inc. in 1985 to form Griffith, Grant & Lackie.

■ 1939-1957

■ 1916-1921

Educated at Harvard and the Ohio State University Medical School, George G. French began in the pharmacy business in Lake Forest in 1889. His drug store contained a soda fountain offering a phosphate, an egg phosphate, and an ice cream and soda.

■ 1970-1985

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1984-Photo by Tony Armour

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1917

Wenban and Griffis, Prescription Druggists ■ 1922-1939

Frank J. Wenban and Willis W. Griffis formed a partnership and bought the pharmacy from Dr. French in December 1921.

Sometime in the 1930s, the shop’s distinctive bow windows were removed from the storefront and replaced with flat plate glass; they saw new life on architect Ralph Milman’s house at 1275 Green Bay Road.

Forester Yearbook 1926

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Martin’s Drug Store ■ 1959-1970

Martin Sopocy reinvented the business as an old-fashioned pharmacy, dispensing with the soda fountain and ancillary items like magazines and toys.

He took an early stand in 1969 and ceased cigarette sales. In 1970, he moved all services to his second store at 500 N. Western Avenue.

B. Dalton Bookseller ■ 1985-2004

The top selling bookstore in the U. S. in 1985, when it arrived as part of Broadacre Management’s effort to add national chains to compete with shopping malls. Reproductions of the original bow windows were put in. B. Dalton was sold to Barnes and Noble in 1987; most locations, like this one, were shuttered by the early 2000s.

Lake Forest Book Store ■ 2004-2016

Originally founded in 1949 by a group of women who saw a need for a community book store, the Lake Forest Book Store moved here in 2004 from its original location at 624 N. Western Avenue.

The business has been sold several times, but always to local women who have maintained continuity of tradition. In early 2016 the book store moved again, four doors to the south.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

Harder’s Hardware ■ 1916-1920

Charles L. Harder began in the hardware business at age 15, working up to owning his own store. A 1917 ad hawked “Furnaces and building paper, window glass and putty, crockery and woodenware, paint and painters’ supplies, house furnishing goods, metal and tin work of all kinds.”

SPACES 5-6

Wells & Copithorne Co. General Hardware ■ 1920-1954

In August 1920, four Harder’s employees – Leon Wells, William Copithorne, Chris Peterson and George Robertson – purchased the store. In 1954 they moved to their own building at 241 East Deerpath.

Jensen’s Boot Shop ■ 1960-1980

Jensen’s moved from a few doors down in 1960 when the Lake Forest Sports Shop expanded.

Coast to Coast Hardware ■ 1956-1959

A chain, run locally by Win and Eric French, that briefly continued the hardware tradition at this storefront in the 1950s.

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Forester Yearbook, 1968

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Village Cobbler ■ 1981-1986

Owned by Robert J. Guss Jr., a two-term mayor of Palatine, who also operated three other locations. Their lease was not renewed in 1986 in an attempt to diversify Market Square’s merchandise mix.

1917

Lake Forester, October 18, 1956

Williams-Sonoma ■ 1986-Present

One of three national retailers brought in during Market Square’s mid-1980s transition. The cookware shop was started in the 1950s in Sonoma, California, by Chuck Williams, using catalog sales to market gourmet kitchen utensils. Lake Forest was its 38th store, and fourth in Illinois.

1986-Photo by Tony Armour

www.lflbhistory.org

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Rasmussen Brothers Boot Shop

SPACE 7

The Sports Shop/ Lake Forest Shop ■ 1935-Present

■ 1916-1935

This shoe store, run by brothers Montague and Ingram Rasmussen, first opened in 1891. They had another location in Highland Park. In 1935, Rasmussen Brothers moved across the Square.

The Sports Shop expanded to this space in spring 1935, knocking down the interior wall. It was an expansive period for the shop, which opened locations on Michigan Avenue and in Hubbard Woods, and later in Hinsdale and Barrington.

In 1954, the Lake Forest Sports Shop remodeled the basement into the Lake Forest Children’s Shop, which offered infants’ and children’s wear – first specializing in girls’ clothing and then adding boys’ by 1956.

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Ellen, Sally and David Foster at the Children’s Shop opening, 1954

1917 Lake Forester, 1956

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Lake Forester, April 1972 Lake Forester, April 1972

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Menghinelli & Flossi Cigars and Pool Room

The Sports Shop/ Lake Forest Shop

Leo Menghinelli and Alvise Flossi operated this short-lived billiards parlor and tobacco vendor.

The Sports Shop was established in 1922 and moved to this location in 1923 after a brief interval at #12. Margaret Baxter Foster founded the shop as a creative outlet for her passion of collecting fashion on her travels. Many of her pieces were sportswear separates, a whole new way of dressing.

■ 1916-1917

Methodist Episcopal Church meeting room

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■ 1923-Present

The shop became a family affair, with her son Volney W. Foster and daughter-in-law Adair Orr Foster taking the reins in 1949.

The tradition continued in the 1980s, when her granddaughter Ellen Foster Stirling assumed leadership, changed the merchandise mix, and rebranded the business as the Lake Forest Shop.

For over 90 years, the store has both symbolized and influenced Lake Forest fashion.

■ 1917-1920

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SPACE 8

While funds were being raised and drawings devised for their new building at Deerpath and McKinley, the Methodist Episcopal church used this space until the summer of 1920, when they moved to a temporary meeting house.

Lake Forest Fire Proof Storage Co.

1986

■ 1920-1922

Benjamin J. Sumerski opened a new display and sales room here in September 1920 for his storage business on Bank Lane, which thrived in a community full of prolific travelers and second homes.

1957

1921

www.lflbhistory.org

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Lake Forest Navy Shop ■ 1917-1918 Launched shortly after the U.S. entered WWI, the Navy Shop provided a site for local women to work on comfort kits for servicemen training at Great Lakes.

Knights of Columbus War Activities

Lake Forest Fire Proof Storage Company ■ 1923-1930 B. J. Sumerski’s moving, packing and storage sales room moved here from next door in 1923, and then to Bank Lane in 1930.

■ 1927-1930

Though the war had ended by 1919, many were still in service, so the Knights of Columbus opened a recreation center for those at Fort Sheridan and Great Lakes here and in the #10 storefront to the west.

Sumerski opened Lake Forest Galleries in December 1927 as a complement to his storage business, drawing on his skills as an upholsterer and antiquarian.

Larsen Decorating Studio ■ 1930-1931

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Lake Forester, February 10, 1922

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Quality Tire Company ■ 1921-1922 Quality Tire’s second Market Square location, having moved from the southwest corner shop in July 1921.

Jensen’s Boot Shop ■ 1942-1959 In business since 1908 on Western Avenue, Frank T. Jensen’s shoe store and leather repair shop relocated to Market Square in 1942.

Lake Forest Galleries

■ 1919-1920

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SPACE 9

Louis A. Larsen was the proprietor of this studio, which advertised services in picture framing, wallpaper, paint, glass, and window shades.

Public Service Company of Northern Illinois ■ 1932-1941 Their showroom moved here in 1932 when Marshall Field took over their former space; by 1942 the electrical utility had relocated to Western Avenue.

Lake Forest Sports Shop ■ 1960-1986 The Lake Forest Sports Shop expanded to include this storefront in 1960, redesigning the façade; the shop scaled back in the 1980s during its period of consolidation and rebranding.

Impulse!

■ 1986-1997 A gift shop founded by Mary McCormack and Teddi Siragusa, it moved upstairs from the Lake Forest Shop basement in 1986.

McCormack and Siragusa met as board members at Allendale, when they operated a boutique at the school’s annual fundraiser.

Penny’s From Heaven ■ 1997-2010 Sarah Scott Tornes was inspired to open this children’s boutique in 1997 by the birth of her daughter Penelope. It moved to Westminster in 2010.

J. McLaughlin ■ 2010-Present

Lake Forester, February 10, 1922

www.lflbhistory.org

Founded on the Upper East Side of Manhattan by brothers Kevin and Jay McLaughlin, this classic sportswear retailer now has nearly 100 locations.

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SPACE 10

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty War Emergency Union Canning Kitchen ■ 1916-1917 One of the goals of the War Emergency Union was to provide against food shortages and to produce a surplus of supplies by cultivating the town’s gardens; local volunteers used this storefront as a cannery for vegetables and fruits.

Quality Tire Company

The Trading Post

■ 1921-1922

■ 1928-2005

Quality Tire’s second Market Square location, having moved from the southwest corner shop in July 1921.

Founded in 1923 as rummage shop for finer things, largely home merchandise and clothing, sold to benefit Alice Home Hospital (later Lake Forest Hospital) and run by hospital volunteers. It moved here from its first Market Square location, #11 next door, in 1928.

Green Mill Cleaners ■ 1924-1925 Orville G. St. Peter ran this cleaning and dyeing franchise, which also had locations in Waukegan and Highland Park.

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Meyer & Company Dry Goods ■ 1918-1919

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The first location for the dry goods store run by E. Albert Meyer; in 1919 it moved across the Square.

Knights of Columbus War Activities ■ 1919-1920 Also located next door at #9, the Knights of Columbus rec room for servicemen featured: “two pianos, two Victrolas and a host of records for each, writing facilities, comfy chairs, tea service every afternoon from 2 until 4, clothes pressing arrangements, playing cards, reading material and always candy and cigarettes provided for those who avail themselves of them.”

Lake Forester, April 20, 1926

Wade Auto Sales/ Quality Motors ■ 1926-1927 The successors to Quality Tire Co. in selling Hupmobiles in Lake Forest.

The Trading Post Exchange ■ 1927-1928 A short-lived early incarnation of the Trading Post gift shop, which closed in 1928 when the Trading Post rummage shop moved over from next door.

Molly Flavin, Florist ■ 2016-Present Opened in the spring of 2016.

www.lflbhistory.org

In 1931, a gift shop of new merchandise opened within the rummage shop; later in the 1930s, the rummage shop moved to Bank Lane. The gift shop remained here for over seven decades before the Women’s Auxiliary of Lake Forest Hospital closed the Market Square location in 2005 due to declining sales.

Phoebe & Frances ■ 2006-2009 A boutique for young women and girls that moved from 272 E. Deerpath; also located in Winnetka.

Valentina ■ 2009-2010 Penny’s From Heaven proprietor Sarah Scott Tornes opened the second location of her Valentina gift shop and boutique here before moving to 227 E. Westminster.

Alixandra Collections ■ 2011-2016 Founded by Alixandra Chesno in 2004 as a home-based business, this retailer of boutique clothing, jewelry and handbags grew to nine locations across four states by 2015.

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SPACE 11 EAST

Market Square Inn

The Trading Post

■ 1916-1917

■ 1925-1928

A restaurant that later relocated to Deerpath.

Founded in 1923, the Trading Post moved to this storefront, its first home in Market Square, in 1925. Within a few years it again expanded to a larger space next door. The cramped quarters here had led to embarrassing incidents: patrons set down their hats and coats to try something on, and then found their own apparel sold when they went to retrieve it.

Joan Tea Room ■ 1918-1919 A tea room and restaurant run

by Miss Howland.

Larsen Decorating Studio ■ 1932-1936 Moved here from 261 Market Square in August 1932.

Lake Forester, April 16, 1936

The Little Wool Shop ■ 1936-1984 First opened in 1934, this was an all-purpose knitting shop run by female proprietors, offering original designs, custom knitting, and knitted items for sale.

Lake Forester, August 17, 1918

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Market Square Restaurant ■ 1919 “The Joan” was taken over in March 1919 by C. L. Burridge, who renamed it the Market Square Restaurant; he served dainty lunches, sandwiches, tea and coffee.

Lake Forest Seed Store

Lake Forester, February 6, 1925

Helen-French Milliner ■ 1928-1929

■ 1920-1924

A hat shop run by Sarah Baldwin.

Run by local gardener and member of the Lake Forest Horticultural Society Alexander Binnie.

A.W. Zengeler Jr. Cleaners ■ 1929-1932 In 1904, A. W. Zengeler, who had joined his father John in their Chicago cleaning and dyeing business, was encouraged by Mrs. J. Ogden Armour to open a branch on the North Shore – she was impressed by Zengeler’s ability to reproduce her favorite shade of pink.

www.lflbhistory.org

1984 – photo by Tony Armour

Talbots ■ 1984-Present Opened in fall 1984 after nine weeks of renovations; their space formerly housed four storefronts, and needed to be consolidated into one shop.

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SPACE 11 WEST

Western Union Deerpath ■ 1917-1967 Gallery

Talbots

■ 1984-Present

■ 1968-1984

Moved to Market Square from the Anderson building in the spring of 1917. The telegraph office, along with the post office, was a communications essential for residents at the time; both helped drive foot traffic to the “back” of the Square, addressing a concern of the retail tenants. As telecommunications advanced, Western Union shifted its resources into the money transfer market.

This long, narrow storefront (14 feet wide and 100 feet long) provided a unique display space for the gallery operated by the Deer Path Art League.

It exhibited and sold works by area artists, with yearly juried competitions.

Though a national chain, Talbots has a local connection.

Nancy Talbot, who founded the store in 1947 in Hingham, Mass., with her husband Rudolph, was the sister of Adair Orr Foster, proprietor of the Lake Forest Sports Shop.

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1919

Lake Forester, 1976 Nancy and Rudolf Talbot at a new branch opening, April, 1971.

A 1945 telegram informing Rose Yore that her son Vincent was missing in action in Belgium during WWII.

1985 – photo by Tony Armour

The Art League’s annual Art Fair on the Square, pictured here in 1979, was first held in 1955.

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 12

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty The Bonnet Shop

The Sports Shop

■ 1916-1917

■ 1922

A hat shop run by Marinette Slocum.

Margaret Baxter Foster opened The Sports Shop in April 1922, offering “a great array of sweaters, hats, gowns and everything essential to the well-dressed sportswoman.” The new shop thrived and moved to larger quarters at #8 in December.

Lake Forest Photographic Service ■ 1919-1921

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■ 1933-1984 An electrical contractor that repaired washing machines and other appliances, Huber Electric was here for over 50 years.

English Knit Shop ■ 1936-1942 Offered cashmere, angora and Shetland sweaters, English tweeds, monogrammed Bermuda bags, and lingerie, as well as laundering and mending services. Proprietor Dorothy Wilcox sold the store to Judith Mabatt and Helen Farwell Stevenson in 1936.

Lake Forester, May 19, 1917

Ralph Kroscher opened his photography studio here in 1919. He advertised “developing, printing, enlarging, copying and flashlights,” as well as that “films left before noon one day are ready the following afternoon at four.” Later, Kroscher relocated to 262 E. Deerpath.

Huber Electric Company

Lake Forester, December 18, 1922

Vanity Beauty Shoppe ■ 1923-1933

1919

Electric Shop ■ 1921 Shared space with the photography studio. A. H. Dannemark sold electrical appliances and did wiring and repairing.

This beauty parlor run by Jessie Myers was one of several Market Square businesses to struggle during the Depression.

When her rent was delinquent in 1932, she and the Lake Forest Improvement Trustees worked to find a solution: Vanity Beauty Shoppe moved upstairs to Apt. 13, where rent was $60/month (lower than the $81 she’d been paying) and the Trustees agreed not to rent her store to another beauty parlor.

Lake Forester, 1925

www.lflbhistory.org

1942

Margaret A. Wells Secretarial Services ■ 1945-1984 Margaret A. Wells had her office here for 40 years. She was the social secretary for the community – organizing parties and events, signing personal cards and many other services.

Talbots ■ 1984-Present A retailer of upscale women’s clothing, shoes and accessories, Talbots has anchored this corner of Market Square for over 30 years now.

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SPACE 13

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Quality Tire Company

Lake Forest Cleaners and Tailors

■ 1916-1921 This tire sales and repair shop applied for a permit from City Council in June 1917 to install a gasoline tank and curb pump in the “parking” in front of the store; you can see the latter in this 1917 photograph.

■ 1934-1947

Best Record Shop ■ 1963-1968

Opened in March 1934, a rare new business during the Depression.

Owned by Bernice Best, formerly director of physical education at Lake Forest public schools.

Trading Post Toy Shop

The Water Closet

■ 1948-1955

■ 1973-1984

In 1948 the toy department of the Trading Post gift shop moved out to this corner store.

A bath shop and custom kitchen boutique run by Bruce and Dorothy Blanchard. Moved to 2 Market Square Court in 1984.

Surprise Shop ■ 1955-1961 A toy store managed for years

by Eleanor Swanton. This was the second location; the first opened in Winnetka in 1949.

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Lake Forester, 1976

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Talbots ■ 1984- Present One of the first national chains brought to Market Square after the 1984 transition from the Lake Forest Improvement Trust to Broadacre Management.

1917

National Tea Company ■ 1922-1933 Founded by Danish immigrant George S. Rasmussen, later a Lake Forest resident, in 1899 in Chicago. By the 1920s it had become one of the largest grocery chains in the country.

Lake Forester, 1956

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 14

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

First National Bank of Lake Forest ■ 1916-1931

The first anchor tenant in Market Square. It was important for the trustees to land the bank to quiet concerns about foot traffic in the west end of Howard Van Doren Shaw’s innovative U-shaped plan. The street was named “Bank Lane” in honor of this first leaseholder.

Originally founded in 1907, when First National moved to this site from the Anderson building at the corner of Western and Deerpath, it had just joined forces with its main competitor, the State Bank of Lake Forest.

During the move, on May 1, 1916, armed guards patrolled the streets as workers hauled all the banks’ possessions – vaults, valuables, money, stocks, bonds and records – around the corner.

When their 15-year lease was up, the bank had outgrown this space, and contracted Stanley Anderson to design a new building on Deerpath in 1931. First National Bank was later acquired by Northern Trust.

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1917

Bluemercury ■ 2009-Present

A full service beauty retail chain originally founded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry Beck.

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 15

Marshall Field & Company ■ 1931-2006

The relocation of the bank in 1931 could have been a blow, but fortunately a new anchor tenant arrived who would see Market Square into the next century.

This was Marshall Field & Company, which opened its first suburban branch store in Lake Forest a block away in September 1928, selling mainly children’s apparel. Sales were brisk, and larger quarters were required so more departments could be added.

Marshall Field & Co. converted an area of approximately 6,500 square feet into its new branch, encompassing the first and lower floors of the former bank and North Shore Gas spaces. In addition to children’s apparel, the new shop had misses, young matrons, dress accessories, lingerie, athletic goods for boys, an on-site fashion designer, milliner, and corsetiere, a party bureau, and a children’s portrait painter.

In September 1932, Marshall Field’s added the former Public

Service Co. quarters, enlarging the misses and women’s apparel section. In 1941 the store took over the second floor, displacing the YWCA. Even with 16,000 square feet, it was a comparatively small branch, and often utilized like a personal shopping service in which customers ordered things to be sent for pickup. In 1987, Field’s undertook a total renovation and became devoted to women’s and juniors’ apparel and accessories; the three floors featured specialty boutiques housing leading designers’ collections.

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1987

Macy’s

■ 2006-2008 After being acquired in 2005, all Marshall Field’s stores were converted into Macy’s. Restricted from featuring the traditional large red star on the sign, Macy’s had to retain the old Marshall Field plaques on the building. This branch closed in January 2008.

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 16

North Shore Gas Company (next door)

Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) - Upstairs

■ 1916-1931

■ 1916-1941

The sales room moved here from the Anderson block.

Customers could purchase gas stoves, gas fixtures, and ornamental glassware.

Served the needs of women and girls and provided many community services. Lake Forest was one of the smaller communities to have its own branch, which started in 1911 in Mrs. Arthur Aldis’ Red Bird Cottage.

The YWCA offered gymnastics classes, teas, religious services, baby clinics, bridge parties, swimming instruction, Americanization, dances, camps, lectures, clubs and a welfare program that assisted with locating employment and housing. During WWI and WWII members organized dances, Sunday vespers, and Sunday suppers for service men and their families.

The Stentor, 1919

Public Service Company of Northern Illinois C

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■ 1919-1932 Organized in 1911 as a consolidation of several other electric companies. In this showroom, customers could pay for service as well as buy electrical goods like vacuums, sewing machines, and light fixtures.

The YWCA operated on fundraising and donations; the budget ranged from almost $18,000 during the boom years of the 1920s to around $7,000 by the mid-1940s. The organization struggled to make their rent payments during the Depression, often requesting extensions or reductions. Before taking over the YWCA space in 1941, Marshall Field had registered complaints about their noisy dance classes. The women moved next door and shared space with the Young Men’s Club.

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1923

J. Crew ■ 2008-Present This upscale clothing chain began as a catalog retailer, opening its first brick and mortar shop in 1989. Since then it has grown to over 300 stores.

www.lflbhistory.org

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Young Men’s Club

Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)

■ 1917-1948

■ 1942-1945

Founded in 1905 as a not-for-profit social, athletic and recreation club for community youth. Their motto was “No Class, No Creed.” The Lake Forest Improvement Trustees offered the club space in part to counter charges by disgruntled merchants that Market Square was an elitist development.

When Marshall Field took over their quarters in 1941, the YWCA negotiated with the Young Men’s Club to share their space temporarily. The women had always used the bridge connecting their upstairs rooms to the Young Men’s Club to access the gymnasium.

The 10,600 square foot clubhouse featured a gymnasium on the second floor, and on the first floor a library, small restaurant, reception room with a fire place, easy chairs, and spacious tables, billiard room, kitchen, and locker room with 157 lockers.

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SPACE 17

The Young Men’s Club owned this building; facing financial hardship, and depleted membership after WWII, in 1948 they began leasing it to the City of Lake Forest, transferring the title outright in 1958.

1917

City of Lake Forest Recreation Department ■ 1948-1979 The City of Lake Forest used this building to house the recently established Recreation Department. The interior was remodeled extensively and the second story windows bricked up.

Though the offices moved over to the former Police/Fire station in 1969, within ten years the Recreation Department had outgrown the building, and a new Rec Center was built on Hastings Road in 1979.

overcrowding in City offices.

This plan met with considerable opposition and was quickly abandoned. In 1981 the building was sold to Broadacre Management, who rehabilitated it into an office and retail complex.

Presented with the question of what to do with their now-empty historic building, in 1979 the City proposed moving it across the street and connecting it with City Hall, where it could relieve

Lake Forest Jewelers

Krafft’s Drug Store

■ 1982-Present

■ 1982-2003

The first retailer to move into the new “Northgate Center” in August 1982. The shop, with a series of owners and locations on Western Avenue and Deerpath, dates back to the 1920s.

Krafft’s has been located in both of the structures designed alongside Market Square but not originally owned by the Lake Forest Improvement Trust. The store moved here from their Western Avenue location in 1982.

Megan Winters Atelier and Maison (at 685 Forest Avenue) ■ 2011-2015 An interior design store.

www.lflbhistory.org

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SPACE 18

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty United States Post Office ■ 1916-1933 Persuading the Post Office, formerly located on Western Avenue, to move to the west end of Market Square was a coup for the Lake Forest Improvement Trustees. It was important in convincing other retailers, accustomed to a typical streetscape, that Howard Van Doren Shaw’s innovative U-shaped design would work and that the “back” of the Square would see foot traffic as well as the “front.” In 1933, the government constructed a standalone post office building just across Bank Lane.

Helanders

EJ Mirage/Izze & Jo

■ 1949-2011

■ 2012-2016

Helanders is another of Market Square’s multigenerational family businesses. It was founded by Finnish immigrant Axel Helander in 1922 as the Lake Forest Radio Shop. Printing, social stationery, and office supplies were added to help survive the Depression. Helanders became a Hallmark dealer in the 1940s after Axel’s son Orvo joined the business. It moved to Market Square in 1949 as a full-line stationery store. The first Xerox copy machine for public use in town was installed here in 1964.

Founded in 1995 by Edna Schneider and her daughter Jennifer as a gift shop for young and old alike. This was its third Market Square location. Izze & Jo was an offshoot consolidated under one roof in 2012.

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In 2011, Chuck and Mary Helander relocated to 222 E. Westminster, the same building where the typewriter department had been in the 1960s. It closed in 2016 after over 90 years in business.

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Evereve ■ 2016-Present A designer clothing retailer offering personal service catering to moms opened here in March 2016.

1917

National Tea Company ■ 1933-1947 After this spot was vacated by the Post Office, National Tea Company moved from across the square. The grocery store removed three of the four Doric Columns on the storefront, presumably to increase window advertising space. In 1947, National Tea moved again, to its own building just to the north.

www.lflbhistory.org

1977

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SPACE 19

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Charles W. Paulson, Barber / Paulson’s Hair Studio

Lake Forest Plumbing Company ■ 1925-1939

■ 1916-1966 Charlie Paulson had the distinction of being the first new tenant to move into Market Square in April 1916, no doubt in part because his business required comparatively little interior alteration. Paulson operated his barber shop for 53 years, passing it on to his son Pat.

A partnership between mechanical engineer Dane McNeill and Charles B. Fitzgerald, whose firm specialized in plumbing, heating, water utilities, and ice refrigeration plants.

Lake Forest News Service

National Tea Company

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1917

A.J. Itrich, Plumber

In July 1940, the National Tea Company grocery store annexed the western half of this space, which had housed the plumbing company, to its store next door. It remained part of 248 Market Square into the 1980s.

■ 1916-1925 August J. Itrich began working as a plumber in Lake Forest in 1909. He sold his business in May 1925 to the newly formed Lake Forest Plumbing Company.

1921

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■ 1949-1988 In 1988, with rents in Market Square on the rise, Helanders gave up one third of its space.

T. Deane’s ■ 1988-1989 A retailer that sold clothes for women.

■ 1937-1938 When Chaucer Westbrook sold his cigar store to Barry Fitzgerald, he continued to operate his Lake Forest News Service at this address.

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Helanders

Lake Forester, July 18, 1940

TSE Cashmere ■ 1990-Present Launched at the height of the cashmere trend in 1990, this is now one of three TSE locations in North America.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty American Express Company

Stanley F. Kiddle, Autos / Stanley F. Kiddle, Bicycles

■ 1916-1920

■ 1922-1968

An express mail business, shipped parcels via railway.

Stanley Kiddle opened his business in Market Square in March 1922 and ran it for years with brothers Joe and Charles. Originally the emphasis was on auto supplies, but he also had bicycles and general hardware and made repairs to nearly everything, from cars to electronics to bikes. The bicycle business expanded in the 1930s and 1940s; nearly every child in Lake Forest had a Hercules, Raleigh or Lincoln bicycle from Kiddles.

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Lake Forester, March 17, 1922

www.lflbhistory.org

SPACE 20 Huber Electric Company ■ 1922-1929 This electrical contractor run by F. W. Wilcox split the space with Stanley Kiddle in the 1920s.

Kiddles Sports ■ 1968-Present Ronald and Millie Shlifka bought the bicycle and hardware business from the founding Kiddle brothers in September 1968. The Shlifkas changed the focus to sporting goods, retaining the bicycle sales and repair element. It’s become a multigenerational family business for the Shlifkas, with son Jay and grandsons Arik and Lee carrying on the tradition.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty

SPACE 21

David D.P. Roy, Seeds, Bulbs and Plants

Westbrook’s Cigar Store

Fitzgerald’s Cigar Store

■ 1917-1918

■ 1927-1938

■ 1938-1959

As secretary of the North Shore Horticultural Society, David Roy had connections to gardens and gardeners in the area. However this was not enough to see him through the period of shortages during the war, as his business went bankrupt in November 1918.

In 1927, Chaucer Westbrook bought Burridge’s business, selling cigars, tobacco products and men’s goods here.

Barry Fitzgerald bought this store from Westbrook in 1938; he retained the tobacco products and pool tables, but turned it into more of a tavern.

Fitzgerald’s became the watering hole for the service element of the community. In 1947, he put in a TV – the first commercial installation of a television in town, and Lake Foresters would come to gawk at it, even during the day when all it ran was a test pattern.

Lake Forest News Service ■ 1927-1937 Westbrook relocated his Lake Forest News Service to Market Square when he bought the cigar store. He distributed the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News, and Waukegan NewsSun, among other periodicals.

Lake Forester, December 8, 1917

Modern Laundry Company

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Sidney Burridge, Cigars, Cigarettes, Billiards

■ 1927-1932

■ 1919-1926 Sidney Burridge was fatherin-law to Stanley Kiddle and operated the billiard parlor and cigar store next door to Kiddle’s shop. Burridge was an English immigrant who initially worked on Lake Forest estates before establishing his own business.

Moved from Deerpath to Market Square in 1927 and opened in this space alongside Westbrook’s.

Garnett and Company ■ 1959-1973 When Fitzgerald’s closed in 1959, Garnett & Co. added this space to the department store.

Kiddles Sports ■ 1974-Present

1923

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In 1974, following the closure of Garnett’s, Kiddles expanded to this storefront, nearly doubling in size to 3,000 square feet. This facilitated the growth of the burgeoning sporting goods operation, with the Shlifkas embracing the running boom and the embryo soccer market: Kiddles had become one of just three or four vendors of Adidas in Illinois by 1969.

1970s

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SPACE 22

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Harry Levin, Tailor

Leonard L. Fenchel, Clothing

■ 1916-1918 After Harry Levin sold his business in 1918, he opened another shop devoted exclusively to tailoring for the soldiers and sailors of Great Lakes and Fort Sheridan.

Presenting Italy ■ 1974-1976

■ 1927-1934 In 1927, Kubelsky retired and handed off the clothing business to his new son-in-law Leonard Fenchel, recently married to his daughter Florence.

Rasmussen Brothers Boot Shop ■ 1935-1937 In 1935, the Rasmussen brothers moved their shoe store to this spot across the square, and remained a couple years before closing, a casualty of the Depression.

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Mayer Kubelsky, Clothing and Men’s Furnishings

■ 1937-1957

■ 1918-1926

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Smith’s Men Shop

Mayer Kubelsky was a Russian immigrant who came to Lake Forest from Waukegan in 1918.

His son Benjamin was the well-known comedian, vaudevillian and actor Jack Benny, who often visited his father and sister in Lake Forest and would occasionally sign autographs at the store.

Walter Smith was originally going to open a men’s store with George Robertson a decade earlier, but at the time was short on funds, so Robertson went into business on his own and Smith later became a competitor. Later, the apostrophe in Smith’s was moved after the “s” when son Brooks joined the business.

This shop run by Gerri and Fred Less specialized in imports and reproductions, picked up on biannual trips to Italy.

Dimitrios Jewelers ■ 1977-1990 Proprietors Helen and Dimitrios Vassiliades founded their first jewelry and imports store in Chicago’s Old Town in 1969, and then established a second store in Lake Forest. In 1990 the shop moved to 252 Deerpath.

Laura Ashley ■ 1991-2002 One of a half dozen or so locations in the Chicago area for this women’s clothing retailer.

Coton & Cadeaux ■ 2003-2007 A gift shop with women’s clothing and accessories.

EJ Mirage ■ 2008-2011 The second Market Square location for this gift shop run by Edna Schneider and Jennifer Schneider Keal.

OSKA Lake Forest ■ 2012-2015 A German retailer of women’s clothing and accessories.

Lake & Company 1937

Garnett and Company ■ 1958-1973

1927

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Garnett and Co. expanded to this storefront after Smith’s moved to 662 N. Western.

■ 2015-Present Opened in 2015 by sisters Cara and Cristina Garrison, proprietors of the Forest Bootery, to focus exclusively on the coats and outerwear accessories sold at the Bootery, which had run out of space.

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SPACE 23

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty W.G. Huntoon Bakery

Raggedy Ann Shop

Cat and Fiddle

■ 1916-1920

■ 1935-1945

■ 1974-1989

Walter G. Huntoon’s bakery, previously on Western Avenue and originally established in 1899 by his Civil War vet father, George Washington Huntoon, was one of the earliest to move into Market Square, in April 1916.

Less than two years after the end of Prohibition, a liquor store arrived in Market Square.

Began as an antique shop in 1950 and transitioned into an interior design store, with hand-painted knick-knacks, high-end china, and custom-made furniture, including the famous Cat and Fiddle chair, a small tub chair with a wide seat.

Lake Forester, May 1938

Bridge-Washburn Company ■ 1945-1948

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In 1945, Jack Bridge and J. Murry Washburn Jr. bought the Raggedy Ann Shop. They carried fine wines and spirits like Boca-Chica Rum, Tribuna Vermouth, and Bellows and Company wines, bourbons, rums and gin; they also offered party service.

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Garnett and Company 1917

C.F. Linderholm Bakery

■ 1949-1973 Garnett & Co. enlarged their shop in 1949 by taking over this storefront.

■ 1920-1934 Carl F. Linderholm took over Huntoon’s bakery by July 1920; he sold “high class bakery goods, candies and ice cream.”

Lake Forest Music ■ 1991-1995 Operated by Heather Sullivan; sold CDs and audio tapes.

Nine West Shoes ■ 1996-1999 Footwear chain founded in New York City in 1978.

Three Sisters ■ 1999-2014 Boutique run by real-life sisters selling women’s apparel and accessories, including yoga supplies.

Kelsey Boutique ■ 2015-Present Upscale consignment shop named for owner Beverly Moran’s daughter.

1923

www.lflbhistory.org

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty War Emergency Union-Red Cross ■ 1916-1918 Organized in Lake Forest during WWI to marshal local money and labor for war activities. The Red Cross met here, collecting supplies and donations, and offering classes in first aid and surgical dressings.

SPACE 24-25

Garnett and Company

The Toy Station

■ 1921-1973

■ 1990-2011

J. B. Garnett & Co., founded in Highland Park by Joseph Garnett and later run by son James, purchased Meyer & Co. in August 1921. Over the next five decades, Garnett’s expanded in size and in product lines into a large department store anchoring the north side of the square, offering apparel, home décor, accessories, and bedding. It closed in 1973 in Lake Forest and six years later in Highland Park.

Originally owned by Norm and Marilyn White, this toy shop changed hands twice before closing in 2011.

Jolly Good Fellows ■ 2013-2015 Opened in May 2013 by Laura Fellows, who wanted to reestablish a child-oriented business in Market Square. Offered baked goods, frozen yogurt and novelty gifts.

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1927

Camerasound of Lake Forest ■ 1974-1976

Lake Forester, September 14, 1918

Meyer & Company Dry Goods ■ 1919-1921 E. Albert Meyer’s dry goods store moved across the square from #10 in 1919 to this larger space; it sold blouses, separate skirts, negligees, sweater coats, lingerie, corsets, petticoats, underwear, hosiery, bath robes, neckwear, and gloves.

www.lflbhistory.org

Offered photographic and framing services and equipment, with a studio on the premises for portraits and passport photos.

Franklin & Sons Wooden Toy Soldier Tot Shop ■ 1979-1990 The Miley family ran this shop that continued the tradition of a toy store in Market Square.

Sweet Pete’s Candy Shop ■ 2015-Present A specialty candy store founded in Florida by Pete and Allison Behringer, backed by entrepreneur and reality TV personality Marcus Lemonis (The Profit), Sweet Pete’s entered the Lake Forest market in 2015 after buying Jolly Good Fellows.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Vincent Quarta, Confectionery and Furniture Repair ■ 1916-1919 Italian immigrant Vincent Quarta was a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur in turn-of-the-century Lake Forest. He ran a confectionery here, also doing furniture repair and upholstery; next door he had a music shop.

He was best known in town for operating the De Luxe movie theatre.

SPACE 26

Pappas Brothers Confectionery

Herman R. Jahnke, Florist

■ 1919-1938

■ 1938-1949

Brothers John and Nick Pappas bought Quarta’s confection business in 1919, selling homemade candies, ice cream and fresh fruit. In 1922 they opened a lunch room in the rear of the store.

Herman Jahnke established his florist shop in 1932 on Deerpath, moving here in 1938. Ground was broken for a new building with adjacent greenhouse, designed by Stanley Anderson, on Western Avenue in 1948.

Lake Forester, December 5, 1919

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Lake Forester, August 18, 1938

Vincent Quarta

Forest Bootery ■ 1949-Present This shoe shop, opened in April 1949 by G. Sutton Lang and Anthony J. Goeckner, is the third-longest running current tenant of Market Square. Paul Garrison bought the business in 1976, sleeping in the store his first year to ensure his success. Since 1996, it’s been run by his daughters Cara and Cristina, who grew up in the shop, making mazes of boxes in the basement stock room. In 2015 they began a major renovation.

www.lflbhistory.org

Lake Forester, April 1, 1949

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SPACE 27

Ten Decades of Business and Beauty Lake Forest Music Shop

A.L. Lachman, Scientific Massage

■ 1920-1923

■ 1922-1924

By 1920, Vincent Quarta was operating his shop here; he sold off his confectionery and focused on musical instrument and furniture repair, as well as retail of Columbia Grafonolas, sheet music, and Q. R. S. music rolls (for a player piano).

A. L. Lachman, a naturopathic doctor, opened a clinic to treat chronic diseases and pains and help patients lose weight with various electrical therapies, massage techniques and gymnastics.

Sun Dial Antiques ■ 1951-1954 An antique shop operated by Alma Donnelley.

Lake Forest Day Parade, 1965

Lake Forester, June 27, 1924

Barker Market ■ 1924-1946 A meat market opened in October 1924 by Edward Barker.

Sold fresh cuts of meat, butter, coffee, juices, cereal, and canned produce.

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Vivian Petersen Maternity Shop and Towne Shop ■ 1959-1976 Vivian Campbell Petersen moved her shop here from 204 E. Westminster in 1959. She had gotten into the right business – outfitting pregnant women – right at the height of the baby boom.

Lake Forester, September 3, 1920

Mimi’s Lingerie and Maternity Shop

Scientific Institute for the Care of Hair

■ 1976-1979

■ 1921 Opened in 1921 by former nurses E. Johnson and F. Winter.

Lake Forester, October 31, 1924

Blue Goose Foods Inc. ■ 1947-1951 Grocery store, also located in Highland Park, that offered free delivery of wines and liquors.

www.lflbhistory.org

Miriam Smith bought Vivian Petersen’s shop in 1976, carrying maternity wear and lingerie.

Requiring more space in March 1980, she moved to 192 E. Westminster.

Forest Bootery ■ 1980-Present In 1980, Paul Garrison remodeled his store, expanding the sales floor by 1/3 by taking over this additional storefront; at that time, coats and handbags were added to the merchandise mix.

market squared Ten Decades of Business and Beauty The Forest Inn ■ 1917 A restaurant operated by James Economos and Sam Panos, offering “daily lunches” and a “table dehote dinner” (table d’hôte, what we would call a prix fixe menu). On opening day in July each patron was presented a rose.

Henry Strenger Plumbing/Home Appliance Shoppe ■ 1924-1927 Henry T. Strenger operated his long-time plumbing business here for a few years before moving to 768 N. Western Avenue. In 1926, Strenger ventured into the realm of home appliances, selling and installing refrigerators, water heaters, gas ranges and “Health-O-Meters” (scales).

SPACE 28 Kruse’s Bakery ■ 1951-1966 Continued the tradition of a European-style pastry shop in this storefront, which has housed a bakery since 1938.

Lake Forest Hardware Company ■ 1927-1937 Lake Forester, September 8, 1917 C

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Rapp Brothers ■ 1919 A meat market open here briefly in 1919 before George Rapp bought the Blackler Market at Deerpath and Western in 1920.

Quality Tire Company ■ 1922-1923

The next year, Strenger and associates opened Lake Forest Hardware Co., which carried a complete line of hardware, paints, oils, varnishes, sporting goods, and tools. This meant that in the 1930s Market Square had no less than three stores selling hardware (also Wells & Copithorne and Stanley Kiddle).

Carl Crist’s Bakery

Headed by Robert Scholz, Quality Tire Co. was also the local vendor of the Hupmobile, an auto designed by the Hupp Motor Company of Detroit.

Carl Crist relocated his business from Highland Park to Lake Forest in fall 1938. It was open for just over six months when Crist died of a heart attack; his family continued to run the bakery for several more years.

■ 1947-1950 Short-lived successor to Crist’s.

www.lflbhistory.org

Market Square Pastries ■ 1966-1994 Run by German immigrant Walter Veile, who came to the U. S. in 1957, and his wife Verena.

Veile had a standing contract with Halas Hall, delivering 12 dozen doughnuts each week for the Bears’ Saturday morning meetings.

■ 1938-1946

Jaeger’s Pastry Shop

1923

Lake Forest Day Parade, 1965

Forester yearbook, 1968

Gerhard’s Elegant European Desserts ■ 1994-Present Gerhard and Mary Greub bought Market Square Pastries in 1994 after Gerhard spent years as an executive chef at Chicago’s Four Seasons hotel.

All of the chocolate used by Swiss-born confectioner Greub is imported from Switzerland.