LAKE FOREST – The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society has launched a new exhibit, “Market Squared: Ten Decades of Business and Beauty.” The exhibit features panels located in each Market Square shop window and at the east Lake Forest Train Station.
The exhibit celebrates the 100th anniversary of Market Square, which first opened to shoppers in April, 1916. In establishing Market Square, the Lake Forest Improvement Trust revolutionized Lake Forest’s business district into the focal point of the community. And architect Howard Van Doren Shaw’s design heralded a new era in town planning: as the nation’s first artfully designed shopping center, it linked pedestrian, automobile, and train.
“Market Squared” tells the story of all of the Square’s storefronts, highlighting each shop that has called it home over the past 100 years. The exhibit also presents a chronology of Market Square’s 10 decades, punctuated with anecdotes and photographs that reveal how the place has changed over time.
Local residents can take a stroll down memory lane as they visit the shops in Market Square to see the businesses of years past. From canning kitchens to the latest in cookware; from Red Cross sewing rooms to upscale couture; from custom shoe fittings and baked goods … Market Square has served residents’ needs and fulfilled their wishes for 10 decades.
This outdoor exhibit is accessible to the public at any time, and will be up through the end of September. It is also viewable on the Historical Society website www.lflbhistory.org.
“Market Squared: Ten Decades of Business and Beauty” is sponsored by The Private Bank; anonymous; Market Square; Paula Berghorn Polito, in loving memory of her dad, Fred H. Berghorn; and Griffith, Grant & Lackie.
Submitted by the Lake Forest – Lake Bluff Historical Society
