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
