One of the most significant, yet little known contributors to the early motion picture industry was Edward Hill Amet (1860-1948) of Waukegan...

In 1875, the county’s first permanent courthouse (built in 1844) was destroyed by fire. Funds to replace the building were not available, an...

Lake County, Illinois was created on March 1, 1839 by an Act of the Illinois Legislature. In June 1839, surveyors appointed by the state sel...

Jane Strang McAlister (1817-1903), 1903. Photo taken at Godfrey's in Waukegan. 94.34.260,  Dunn Museum Collections . One of the county’s...

Ansel Brainerd Cook (1823-1898), built a name for himself as a state lawmaker and stonemasonry contractor. He is certainly one of the be...

One-room schoolhouses dotted the landscape of 19th century Lake County. By 1861, there were 70 of them, including the Avon Center School (Di...

In the last few years, the Lake County Forest Preserves has begun a program to celebrate the history of preserve sites by placing historical...