Posted June 3, 2011
Mineola Hotel, 1913. Dunn Museum 96.12.2
The 100-room hotel boasted of hot and cold running water, a beautiful natural setting, boating, fishing and hunting opportunities, all for the affordable rate of $2 and up per day. It is believed, but not confirmed that the hotel's veranda was designed by Alphonse Howe & Charles Caskey, the architects of the famed Grand Hotel on Michigan's Mackinac Island. The hotel was built as a private clubhouse for Chicago’s elite, but by 1891 it had been sold to Edson C. Howard, who remodeled it into a public hotel.
View of Fox Lake shoreline and the Mineola Hotel, circa1910. Dunn Museum 2002.12.3
As early as the 1910s, Fox Lake was known for its drinking and gambling establishments. The Chicago Tribune reported it was “…worse than in the levee districts of the city.” The situation in Fox Lake was in part due to Chicago’s efforts to “clean up” its own vice districts, which caused those districts to re-settle in the suburbs. The newspaper article added, “Probably the most vicious resort is the Mineola Hotel. All of the hotels are supplied with slot machines.”
During Prohibition (1920-1933), the lakes region became a notorious hangout for Chicago mobsters. The Mineola was reportedly a hideaway for Al Capone (1899-1947) and his gang, who could freely gamble and drink the nights away.
Reverse side of Mineola Hotel postcard, circa 1910. "I am up here for a week. Nice place and I'm having a good time. H. T. Webb." Dunn Museum 2002.12.3
In 1943, the Mineola was purchased by the Jakstas Family, who have owned it ever since. The family has fended off the bulldozers many times through the decades. One scare came in 1953, when a hotel guest set a fire on the third floor, which luckily was contained.
A decline in tourism in the early 1960s made it difficult to keep the business going, and by 1969, the Jakstas's were prepared to demolish the hotel, going so far as to sell off the original furniture. Mrs. Emma Jakstas was quoted by the Chicago Tribune, February 23, 1969: "We regret tearing down the hotel, but it is a real tinder box... It would be too expensive to remodel this mammoth place."
Peter and Emma Jakstas's son, Peter, was convinced the family should keep the building. They closed off the hotel portion to the public, but kept open the first floor restaurant and bar, and second floor banquet facility.
The Mineola is 225 feet long and four stories high, and is considered the largest wooden structure in Illinois. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Register is the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation, and is administered by the National Park Service.
Postcard of Howard's Mineola Hotel, circa 1920. Dunn Museum M-86.1.345
Though it's been the dream of the Jakstas family to fully restore the building those efforts have been met with mixed success and much difficulty. After 68 years in the family's ownership, Pete Jakstas is considering retirement and the sale of the hotel, marina and surrounding 17-acres.
Photo of the Mineola from Chicago Tribune article, May 6, 2022.
Update: As of May 2022, the Jakstas property was under contract for purchase by developers. The historic Mineola Hotel will be razed and a new boutique hotel complex built "with aesthetic features from the original hotel" incorporated into the new building. Source: "Fox Lake Hopes to Bring Hotel to Mineola Lakefront Site" by Greg Harutunian, Chicago Tribune, May 6, 2022.
- Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org
9 comments:
I lived in Fox Lake for 3 years (1982-1985) on Lippencott which if you go to the end of the road you can see the lake. I remember going to the Minneola when it was only opened as a bar. There were still tattered old gauzy looking curtains blowing in the forever open windows on upper floors of what were hotel rooms. I tried to imagine how it must have been in the old days, amazing.
I lived on North Ave from 1955-1963. Winters were spent skating in front of the Mineola Hotel. We traded in our skates at the Hardware store in town each year. One Christmas, the Jaktas' encircled the skating rink with fir trees, piped music filled the air and we played crack the whip into piles of snow. Hot chocolate from the bar and weekends watching the ice boat races. And who can forget the walk home along Cora Ave "Snow Dances" to bring on snow storms to get a day off school???? I still love Fox Lake and the Mineola Hotel!!
I grew up in the area and my family and I went to Mineola all the time. I just wish I could have seen it as a hotel, what it was like in the past. It makes me sad that they closed it down. It was a big part of my childhood. I wish someone could buy it again and renovate it to it's natural glory. It is such a beautiful building.
Lake County....Buy it and make it a beach front park for the public please
My family lived on north avenue for almost 100 years. Use to play in the old minneola barn. Great memories. Our family were friends with the Howard’s. First owner. Will miss the place.
My husband and I stayed there one night in 1966. Our room was one of only 3 occupied rooms. We had to go down the hall to shower and use the bathroom. There was a sink with running water in our room. It was a little creepy but we were glad to have visited this historical hotel.
https://www.foxlake.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2517
according to meeting minutes, recent developers have declined to progress the hotel due to financial feasibility.
My husband and I were married at this hotel in 1997. It is so sad to see the building in this condition. So much history will be lost when it is demolished.
I lived in fox lake for about 10 years. I worked in a few different places during that time. One day peter Sr offered me a job as a waiter and bartender I really enjoyed working there. I would often lock up the bar and restaurant by myself. I often would hear strang noise late at night. One night I heard foot steps coming from the second and third floors. I know I was the only one in the building but I swear it felt like I was being watched by ghosts and and people from the past. I really miss that place.
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