Lake Forest is a city located in
Lake County, Illinois, United States. Per the
2020 census, the population was 19,367. The city is along the shore of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
, and is a part of the
Chicago metropolitan area
The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...
and the
North Shore. Lake Forest was founded with
Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in 1857, a stop for travelers making their way south to
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
. The Lake Forest City Hall, designed by
Charles Sumner Frost, was completed in 1898. It originally housed the fire department, the Lake Forest Library, and city offices.
History
Early history
The
Potawatomi inhabited Lake County before the United States Federal Government forced them out in 1836 as part of
Indian Removal of tribes to areas west of the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...
.
As Lake Forest was first developed in 1857, the planners laid roads that would provide limited access to the city in an effort to prevent outside traffic and isolate the tranquil settlement from neighboring areas. Though the town is considerably more accessible today, due in part to the extensive new construction taking place further west, the much smaller neighborhood of eastern Lake Forest, near the coast of
Lake Michigan
Lake Michigan ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and depth () after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the ...
, remains relatively secluded. It is one of the most scenic, historical, and architecturally significant suburbs of Chicago. These neighborhoods include estates and homes designed by distinguished architects such as
Howard Van Doren Shaw,
David Adler,
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...
, Arthur Heun, Jerome Cerny,
Henry Ives Cobb, and modernist
George Fred Keck, among others. Landscape architects
Frederick Law Olmsted and
Jens Jensen also designed projects in Lake Forest.
Market Square
A market square (also known as a market place) is an urban square meant for trading, in which a market is held. It is an important feature of many towns and cities around the world. A market square is an open area where market stalls are tradit ...
, designed by
Howard Van Doren Shaw, was completed in 1916 as a commercial center for Lake Forest.
Lake Forest had an African-American community from very early on in its history, drawn to employment opportunities on the estates and educational institutions in the late 19th century. Unlike other communities in the area, Lake Forest had many residents who were associated with the
Abolitionist movement. Lake Forest's first mayor and a founder of Lake Forest College, Sylvester Lind, was a major figure on the
Underground Railroad, and was known to help escaped slaves settle in Lake Forest. Roxana Beecher, niece of abolitionist
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (185 ...
, taught integrated school in Lake Forest. A prominent early Lake Forest businessman was Samuel Dent, an escaped slave and Union veteran who ran a livery stable. A local jazz band was named in Dent's memory.
Another black entrepreneur was Julian Matthews, who ran a bakery, restaurant, and ice cream parlor with his wife Octavia. The second police officer hired in 1900 in Lake Forest was a black man from Kentucky, Walker Sales, who was hired in 1900 and stayed on for nearly 20 years. Members of this African-American community established the African Methodist Episcopal Church as of 1866, and it stood at what is now the corner of Maplewood and Washington Road. By 1900, another black church, the First Baptist Church of Lake Forest, had opened and is still active. By the 1980s, increased housing prices had encouraged some older black residents to sell their properties lucratively, but others stayed in the community. Lake Forest also had a small community of Jews, typified by wealthy socialites such as
Albert Lasker
Albert Davis Lasker (May 1, 1880 – May 30, 1952) was an American businessman who played a major role in shaping modern advertising. He was raised in Galveston, Texas, where his father was the president of several banks. Moving to Chicago, he b ...
and
David Adler.
The secluded style of Lake Forest was intended as a form of protection. According to the president of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society, the captains of industry and upper-class elite who first settled in Lake Forest sought a refuge from late 19th and early 20th-century Chicago. In their view, the city was overrun with immigrants from southern and eastern Europe who had dangerous socialist ideas and indulged in excessive alcoholic consumption.
Country clubs became important centers of social activity in Lake Forest's early decades. The
Onwentsia Club was, in the words of one writer, "the premiere social and sporting club in the Midwest".
Growth to present day
Beginning in the 1950s, Lake Forest's population increased dramatically due to an aggressive program of real estate development and annexation of surrounding areas. While city limits did not originally extend west of Green Bay Road, they gradually expanded. The neighborhood now known as "West Lake Forest" was started as an unincorporated community known as Everett, with many Irish farm workers, who were served by Saint Patrick's Catholic Church. This expansion was not without controversy, as many residents felt that the community was losing its character. Novelist
Arthur Meeker Jr., who grew up in West Lake Forest in the early 1900s, considered moving back to his childhood community, but upon visiting in the 1950s "to my dismay I found this region wasn't really rural anymore. … The Lake Forest of my childhood had all but vanished". Everett was annexed by Lake Forest in 1926, but did not become heavily developed for several decades. In 1988, the community expanded further westward, annexing 682 acres of land surrounding
Lake Forest Academy and
Conway Farms Golf Club, despite negative reactions from residents. The city government justified the expansion as necessary to prevent unwanted commercial development encroaching the edges of the community.
One of Lake Forest's most notable features is its virgin
prairie
Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...
s and other
nature preserves. In 1967, a group of 12 long-time residents of Lake Forest formed a
land conservation organization, Lake Forest Open Lands Association. Its express purpose was to purchase or otherwise set aside the rapidly disappearing
open spaces in the city, in the interests of preserving
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...
habitat
In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...
, restoring
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
s, and providing
environmental education for the city's children. In the next 38 years, the group managed to acquire more than within the city limits, which now form six nature preserves with of
walking trails open to the public.
Preserved in perpetuity are
wetland
A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...
s, original pre-1830 prairie,
woodland
A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
, and
savanna
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...
, all within the community. The restoration of these lands is celebrated by an annual "Bagpipes and Bonfire" event in September, which started as a community event in which controlled fires were burned to clear underbrush and preserve the savannah. From an early time, the playing of bagpipes has accompanied the community gathering, as the town had numerous Scots-Irish residents in its early years. This has also been an annual fundraising event for Lake Forest Open Lands Association.
Gorton Center, which originally housed the town's first K-8 school, is a hub for arts and culture and a community venue. Gorton presents live music, storytelling, children's events and community events; has a film program; produces and offers classes for youth and adults, including Gorton Drama Studio, theater and acting classes for all ages; houses a children's learning center; houses other nonprofits; provides places for others to rent for their special events and meetings. Designed, built and opened as the Central School in 1901, the original building was designed by James Gamble Rogers and remodeled in 1907 by Howard Van Doren Shaw.
The Ragdale Foundation, an artists' community and residence, is located in Lake Forest. Formerly
Howard Van Doren Shaw's summer retreat and built in 1897, the estate has accommodated the artist
Sylvia Shaw Judson.
In 1992, Lake Forest gained national attention when it attempted to ban the sale of offensive music to anyone under the age of 18.
City council members used existing ordinances against obscenity—defined in the codes as "morbid interest in nudity, sex or excretion"—to buttress their campaign.
Mayor Charles Clarke stated, "If they sell an obscene tape to somebody underage, we will prosecute."
The person who came up most frequently in discussions of obscene content was
Ice-T, a rapper who has since also performed as an actor.
Lake Forest has been named a
Tree City USA by the
National Arbor Day Foundation in recognition of its commitment to community forest. As of 2006, Lake Forest had received this national honor for 26 years. The actor
Mr. T angered town residents by cutting down more than 100 oak trees on his estate, in what is now referred to as the "Lake Forest Chain Saw Massacre".
Geography
Lake Forest is located in the
North Shore area of
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.
According to the 2010 census, Lake Forest has a total area of , of which (or 99.62%) is land and (or 0.38%) is water.
Economy

Commercial development in Lake Forest is focused in three areas, two of which have public railway stations. The central business district includes a
Metra
Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...
commuter railroad station on the
Union Pacific/North Line. It extends beyond Market Square, providing a mixture of retail, banking, and professional services, as well as restaurants. Market Square is composed of a wide variety of shops and restaurants. The business district to the west includes a Metra commuter railroad station on the
Milwaukee District/North Line. It extends beyond Settlers' Square to provide a mixture of retail, banking and professional services, as well as restaurants. A third area of business development, consisting mostly of corporate and office space, has been developed along the city's northwestern border with the
Tri-State Tollway.
The headquarters of
Fortune 500
The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...
companies
Brunswick, and
Hospira are located in Lake Forest;
Akorn, Covered Logistics,
Horizon Therapeutics,
IDEX,
Packaging Corporation of America,
Pactiv, Prestone, and
Trustmark also have their headquarters in Lake Forest, while
W. W. Grainger and
BFG Technologies are located in
unincorporated Lake County, near Lake Forest. The
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...
training facility and headquarters,
Halas Hall, opened in 1997 in west Lake Forest, and the
Chicago Fire now train at the Bears' previous facility located on the campus of Lake Forest.
Lake Forest is the base for Linking Efforts Against Drugs (LEAD), a national organization aimed at discouraging youth from getting involved in drugs. It empowers parents and community members to encourage the drug-free choice.
Top employers
According to Lake Forest's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:
Demographics
2020 census
2010 census
As of the
2010 United States Census, there were 19,375 people living in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 92.11%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 4.67%
Asian, 2.80%
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino (of any race), 1.30% of two or more races, 1.10%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.14%
Native American, 0.01%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, and 0.68% of some other race.
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 20,059 people, 6,687 households, and 5,329 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 7,001 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 95.80%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 1.35%
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.06%
Native American, 2.45%
Asian, 0.13%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.44% from
other races, and 0.77% from two or more races.
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race were 0.87% of the population.
There were 6,687 households, out of which 39.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.6% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 4.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.3% were non-families. Of all households 18.3% Of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the city, 27.5% of the population was under the age of 18, 9.6% were from 18 to 24, 19.7% from 25 to 44, 28.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males.
According to a 2007 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $150,670, and the median income for a family was more than $200,000. Males had a median income of $100,000+ versus $44,083 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $77,092. About 0.15% of families and 0.2% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
.
Transportation
Lake Forest has
Interstate Highway
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Hi ...
access through the
Tri-State Tollway (
I-94). In addition, the
Skokie Highway (
U.S. Highway 41) and
Skokie Valley Trail runs through Lake Forest, roughly bisecting the city. Lake Forest is connected with suburbs west of it through
Illinois Route 60
Illinois Route 60 (IL 60) is a east–west state highway in Lake County, in northeastern Illinois. It connects the village of Volo at Illinois Route 120 (Belvidere Road) just east of Illinois Route 59 with the city of Lake Forest at U ...
. Additionally, Lake Forest has two Metra commuter railroad stations, both of which share the same name. The
Union Pacific North Line has a station in
East Lake Forest, while the
Milwaukee District North Line has a station in
West Lake Forest. The station at
Fort Sheridan is located just outside city borders on the UP-N Line and has connections to
Pace Route 472.
Education
Most Lake Forest residents attend
Lake Forest School District 67 and
Lake Forest High School. Lake Forest High School serves Lake Forest as well as parts of neighboring
Lake Bluff.
Lake Forest also has another school district,
Rondout School District 72, which serves far-eastern parts of Libertyville, and all parts of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff that lie within
Libertyville Township. It has one school, Rondout Elementary School, which serves grades K-8. Students attend
Libertyville High School after graduating.
Elementary schools and middle schools
*Rondout Elementary School-public
*Deer Path Middle School—public
*Cherokee Elementary School—public
*Everett Elementary School—public
*Sheridan Elementary School—public
*School of St. Mary—private
*East Lake Academy—private
*Montessori School of Lake Forest—private;
Montessori
*Forest Bluff School—private;
Montessori; in neighboring
Lake Bluff; majority of students live in Lake Forest
High schools
*
Lake Forest High School—public
*
Lake Forest Academy—private
*
Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart—private
Colleges
*
Lake Forest College
*
Lake Forest Graduate School of Management
Culture
Lake Forest is home to the Gorton Center, which houses the John & Nancy Hughes Theater, the Citadel Theatre Company
and the Music Institute of Chicago Lake Forest Campus. Lake Forest is known for its country clubs, including the
Onwentsia Club, Knollwood Club,
Conway Farms Golf Club, the Lake Forest Winter Club, and the Lake Forest Club.
Polo
Lake Forest is noted in the
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
area for its history of
polo
Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...
, once being the westernmost establishment of the sport in the United States. In August 1933, the Onwentsia Club of Lake Forest hosted the "World Series of Polo" that pitted the top polo players of the eastern and western United States against each other in a best-of-three series. Dubbed the World Series of Polo by the press, each match drew thousands of spectators to Lake Forest from Chicago and across the country. It was home to the "East-West clash of 1933", in which a team of "Westerners" (who would today be considered
Midwesterners), challenged the best of the Eastern US polo teams, winning two of three matches. Box seats sold for $5.50, and the general public was admitted for $1.10. The Chicago press covered the match extensively, including the arrival of every horse and player, the color of the horseflesh, and the color of the goalposts. The match was described as a "gleaming moment in American polo, if not the very zenith of the game in this country." Today, polo is played yearly throughout August.
Notable people
In popular culture
Literature
* ''
The Group'' has a character named Lakey from Lake Forest.
* ''
The Great Gatsby'', by
F. Scott Fitzgerald; the character of Tom Buchanan imports his "string of polo ponies" from a Lake Forest farm to
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...
, New York.
* ''
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius'' by
Dave Eggers; Dave (the main character) and his family are from Lake Forest, and the story begins there.
*
''It'', novel by
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
; Lake Forest is mentioned early in the book.
* ''
The Lay of the Land'', novel by
Richard Ford; Frank Bascombe's in-laws are from Lake Forest.
[Knopf 2006, pp. 224–226.]
*
''Ordinary People'' by
Judith Guest; the central characters live in the city, where much of the story takes place.
*
Pet Sematary, novel and
movie
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
script by Stephen King. Lake Forest is mentioned in the book and as a location in the movie's script.
* ''
Tender Is the Night'', by
F. Scott Fitzgerald; the character of Nicole Warren and her family have an estate in Lake Forest.
Film
* ''
A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon''; its tennis scene was filmed in Lake Forest.
* ''
Cheaper by the Dozen 2''; Lake Forest is where Jimmy Murtaugh's children go to a private school.
* ''
Chicago PD'' Hailey Upton
Tracy Spiridakos' character is from Lake Forest.
*
Class
Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to:
Common uses not otherwise categorized
* Class (biology), a taxonomic rank
* Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects
* Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...
; many scenes were filmed at Lake Forest College, notably the lunchroom and hockey/ice-rink scenes.
* ''
Damien: Omen II'' filmed scenes at
Lake Forest Academy.
* ''
Ferris Bueller's Day Off''; parts of the film were filmed in uptown Lake Forest.
*
''Girls Just Want to Have Fun'';
Sarah Jessica Parker's snobby rival Natalie is from Lake Forest.
* ''
Henry Gamble's Birthday Party'' was filmed entirely in an upscale Lake Forest neighborhood.
*
''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1994); Interior and exterior scenes of the dream home in the John Hughes-produced remake were filmed in Lake Forest.
* ''
My Reputation'';
Barbara Stanwyck plays a Lake Forest widow in this wartime love story from 1946.
* ''
Ocean's Twelve''; during the opening sequence of the film, a jewelry store in downtown Lake Forest is featured.
* ''
Ordinary People'', the story of a Lake Forest family, directed by
Robert Redford, was filmed on location in Lake Forest in 1980, and won the
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...
.
*
''The Package''; scenes were filmed at
Lake Forest Academy.
* ''
Public Enemies''; parts of the 2009 film were shot at
Barat College.
* ''
The Razor's Edge'' (1984);
Bill Murray
William James Murray (born September 21, 1950) is an American actor and comedian, known for his deadpan delivery in roles ranging from studio comedies to independent dramas. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Bill Murra ...
's character and his friends are from Lake Forest.
*
''The Unborn'', filmed in multiple locations in Lake Forest, including the recently closed
Barat College.
* ''
The Vow'';
Rachel McAdams's character and her family are from Lake Forest.
References
Further reading
* Arthur Zilversmit, ''Changing schools: Progressive education theory and practice, 1930-1960'' (University of Chicago Press, 1993).
External links
*
{{authority control
1857 establishments in Illinois
Chicago metropolitan area
Cities in Illinois
Cities in Lake County, Illinois
Illinois populated places on Lake Michigan
National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Illinois
Populated places established in 1857