Monday, May 20, 2013
Check out the latest from the Grayslake Historical Society archives.
History unfolds in mysterious ways. What is the connection between mineral springs in Wisconsin, Mary Todd Lincoln, the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and Grayslake? A quick synopsis: Mary Todd Lincoln visited the mineral spring waters of Waukesha during the summer of 1872 seeking the healing benefits of the waters during her mourning for her son Tad who died the previous year. Waukesha, once known nationwide as Spring City, attracted thousands of people in the late 19th century to resorts built around about 60 mineral springs in the area. Many people thought by drinking the water, it would heal them of what ailed them. A Chicago entrepreneur bought one of the springs in 1891 and formed a corporation to build a pipeline to Chicago to bring …
Monday, May 6, 2013
In what year did a free library begin operating in Grayslake?
The Grayslake Area Library board and staff are among the many friends of the Grayslake Historical Society that offer expertise, support and materials for the successful operation of the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum, 164 Hawley St. The most recent donation from the library is a wooden card catalog file cabinet that replaces odd-sized metal file drawers that are used in the society's archives in the lower level of the Heritage Center and Museum. Also in use in the archives is the library counter that was used in the former libraries on Center Street and elsewhere. Not too long ago the library donated a microfilm reader to the society. Researchers can now read The Grayslake Times in the society's archives rather than take the …
Monday, April 22, 2013
The exhibit will open May 11.
Grayslake area amateur photographers are invited to showcase their talent at the Grayslake Heritage Center & Museum this spring. The museum will display photographs by local contributors as part of a new exhibition, Picture This: Celebrating Grayslake. Categories include people, places and events. Submitted photographs should have been taken in the greater Grayslake area in the past five years by local photographers. For purposes of definition, the greater Grayslake area includes the 60030 ZIP code or residency in an area serviced by one or more Grayslake units of government. All photographs should be suitable for family audiences. Photographers whose work includes people should have permission from their subjects to publicly display …
Monday, April 15, 2013
Do you know who the first fire chief was?
- POLICE & FIRE
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Monday, April 15
Reading about history in books, newspapers and magazines is one way to be informed of what happened years ago, but experiencing it up close is a more exciting method of learning. Such is the case with the history of the Grayslake Fire Department. The history can be read about in books and on line, but it can be experienced and almost relived in the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum, where firefighting equipment and pictures of the past bring the dangerous and important role of the firefighters to life. The Annex behind the Heritage Center and Museum houses the larger items of the museum collection including Wilbur, a 1954 former Grayslake Fire Department truck that after many years of service retired to the Annex. It is a major …
Monday, April 1, 2013
"Scent is the strongest sense tied to the memory," according to Escential Resources Ltd.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Monday, April 1
Does the permanent gallery of the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum smell? You bet it does! There are four distinct smells emanating from four panels in the Embracing Change: the Growth of Grayslake exhibit. And they are all pleasant odors! The scented beads manufactured by California-based Escential Resources Ltd. provide the Grayslake smells of strawberry, grass, apple cider and cherry. "Just for the Smell of it," is the company's catch-phrase. The scented beads are in special containers embedded in the exhibit panels. They are: The idea of adding smells and aromas to the exhibit to enhance the experiences of museum visitors was born almost as a joke among the Grayslake Historical Society members planning the exhibit and the …
Sunday, March 31, 2013
"People love the hat," said Dave Oberg.
Did you know that Abraham Lincoln is the only president to hold a patent? While most people know that Lincoln was a surveyor and a lawyer, they'll likely be surprised to learn that Lincoln came up with a floatation device to help lift boats off of sandbars, said Dave Oberg, executive director of the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum. Guests can see a reproduction of the patent model, along with high-quality reproductions of other items, at the "Abraham Lincoln: Self-Made in America" traveling exhibition. The exhibition will be at the Grayslake Heritage Center until June 16. "People love the hat," said Oberg. A self-proclaimed Lincoln enthusiast, Oberg noted that Lincoln used his hat to carry important papers. Guests who visit the …
Monday, March 18, 2013
What did the distinctive trees indicate? The Grayslake Historical Society explains it all here.
- LOCAL CONNECTIONS
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Monday, March 18
Visitors to the Grayslake Historical Center's second floor permanent gallery are greeted by a wooden cutout silhouette of a marker tree with a bent limb pointing the way to the museum exhibit "Embracing Change: The Growth of Grayslake." The award-winning exhibit, created by the Grayslake Historical Society, has won three major awards for excellence including those from state and national organizations. "Living Markers" is the title of the marker tree exhibit that notes: "Native Americans modified young trees to create arms which pointed travelers along established trails or routes. "Which way are these trees pointing?" the visitors are asked. The trees are pointing to the right directing them into the exhibit "Embracing Change: the Growth…
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
Do you know why plank roads were important?
With the spring thaws more than 150 years ago in Lake County, farmers and travelers alike dreaded the dirt paths and trails that would become a quagmire of mud and slow transportation throughout the area. An answer to the problem was the building of wooden roads or plank roads to improve and speed transportation. In Lake County, a plank road was announced in 1848 by three businessmen and civic leaders to build a toll road, or "turnpike" from Waukegan to McHenry using wooden planks. It was known as the Lake and McHenry Plank Road. The men—John Gage, Elmsley Sunderlin and John Tyrrell—were the first officers of the Lake and McHenry Plank Road Association. The landowners were encouraged to donate their property for the road, which followed …
Monday, February 18, 2013
What were the popular hang-outs in the Grayslake area during the 1950s, 60s and 70s?
A group of former and present Grayslake residents reminisced recently about their hang-outs and adventures while growing up in Grayslake during the 50s, 60s and 70s. It was part of the continuing series of reminisce sessions sponsored and hosted by the Grayslake Historical Society at the Heritage Center and Museum in Grayslake. Their stories of adventures as junior high (middle school) and high school students included such places as Cec's drugstore and fountain on Center Street, Tree Island in the then-undeveloped west end of the village, The Surfside club and the roller rink, both in Hainesville, and various vacant lots throughout the village where they would gather for pickup baseball games and other athletic challenges. Jane Tiffany-…
Monday, February 4, 2013
The Grayslake Historical Society gives Patch a look at an horse-drawn cutter, or sleigh, that still plays an important role during the museum's annual Christmas celebration.
Tucked away in the Grayslake Heritage Center and Museum Annex with the other large artifacts in the collections of the Grayslake Historical Society is a horse-drawn cutter, or sleigh, that plays a prominent role in the Christmas holiday celebration season at the museum, 164 Hawley St. Sleigh and cutter are words that are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. The museum's artifact is a cutter because it has only one seat for two people to cuddle during a swishing ride drawn by one horse through the snow. A sleigh has a front and back seat for family enjoyment and can be drawn by more than one horse. The museum's cutter comes out in its full glory decorated with colorful bows, Christmas greenery and interesting, colorful …
Ralph Schroeder
1:08 pm on Friday, April 19, 2013
Great report! Having lived in Grayslake from 1949 until 1964 I remember much of the fire department's history. Soon after the lumber yard burned down--maybe the following year--the bowling alley went. Could those events have been on consecutive New Year's Eves? Whenever we heard the siren announcing a fire the kids would yell, "Get the bikes" and off we'd go to the fire station to follow the … more ›