Since the Seth Paine Elementary School opened 58 years ago, thousands of Lake Zurich K-5 students have paraded through the entry seeking knowledge. It’s a pity few of them ever…
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“First Lady” of Barrington
Elmina Caroline Phillips McIntosh has been found. At least her image has. In it, her face is taut, tired, and her cheeks seem sunken. The image reflects a woman of…
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Who Was Blackhawk?
Look closely into the eyes of an Illinois man dead 181 years to see into his melancholy. There is righteous sadness and a dash of puzzlement there that the artist…
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Brigadoon
Even on 70 acres of enchantment, and towering tales that turn out to be true, there are some days that glitter with refined magic for this column we call The…
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The Man That Built Barrington
The unresolved and perhaps unresolvable mystery of Barrington history is not why Arnett Lines captured local fame. That’s obvious. He was the town’s self-defined historian, public servant, educator, social energizer,…
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Ghost Story
Charles Dickens would have understood teenager James Alfred Davis and his plight perfectly, just as he comprehended Old Marley’s spectral meanderings. Alfred and Marley both necessarily were dead. Dickens’ A…
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The Visionaries
The life story of Dr. John Prunskis and his wife Dr. Terri Dallas-Prunskis is the stuff of an epic novel. The only challenge is where to begin. The obvious place…
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The Cuban Conundrum
Nicole Knapik is the official keeper of historical documents for Cuba Township, which touches several Barrington communities that overlap in southern Lake County. Her clerk’s office on Cuba Road features…
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Loving Tribute
When Donn Ziebell of Lake Barrington turned 83, he figured it was a good time to pay a tribute to Jean, his high school sweetheart and wife of 53 years….
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Visions Of Christmas Past
When Barrington was officially founded in 1865, the very notion of children’s toys as we know them had just come into vogue. Offered for sale with full illustration in the…
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