Lake Forest, Illinois | |
City | |
Lake Forest City Hall
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Country | United States |
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State | Illinois |
County | Lake |
Township | Moraine, Shields, Vernon, West Deerfield |
Coordinates | 42°14′5″N 87°51′3″W / 42.23472°N 87.85083°WCoordinates: 42°14′5″N 87°51′3″W / 42.23472°N 87.85083°W |
Area | 17.24 sq mi (45 km2) |
- land | 17.18 sq mi (44 km2) |
- water | 0.07 sq mi (0 km2) |
Population | 19,375 (2010) |
Density | 1,124/sq mi (434/km2) |
Founded | 1861 |
Mayor | Donald P. Schoenheider |
Timezone | CST (UTC-6) |
- summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
Postal code | 60045 |
Area code | 847, 224 |
Website: www |
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Lake Forest is a city located in Lake County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 19,375. The city is along the shore of Lake Michigan, and is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the North Shore. Lake Forest was founded around Lake Forest College and was laid out as a town in 1857 as a stop for travelers making their way south to Chicago. The Lake Forest City Hall, designed by Charles Sumner Frost, was completed in 1898 and originally housed the fire department, the Lake Forest Library, and city offices.
Lake Forest is located in the North Shore area of Chicago, at 42°14′5″N 87°51′3″W / 42.23472°N 87.85083°W (42.234788, -87.851042).
According to the 2010 census, Lake Forest has a total area of 17.246 square miles (44.67 km2), of which 17.18 square miles (44.50 km2) (or 99.62%) is land and 0.066 square miles (0.17 km2) (or 0.38%) is water.
The Potawatomi inhabited Lake County before money and violence pushed them away in 1836.
As Lake Forest was first developed in 1857, the planners laid roads that would provide very limited access to the city in an effort to prevent outside traffic and further isolate the tranquil settlement from neighboring areas. Though considerably more accessible today, due in part to the extensive new construction taking place further west, the much smaller neighborhood of eastern Lake Forest, near the coast of Lake Michigan, remains relatively secluded and is one of the most scenic, historical, and architecturally significant suburbs of Chicago. These neighborhoods include estates and homes designed by distinguished architects like Howard Van Doren Shaw, David Adler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Arthur Heun, Jerome Cerny, Henry Ives Cobb, and modernist George Fred Keck among others. Landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Jens Jensen also designed projects in Lake Forest. Market Square, designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw, was completed in 1916 as a commercial center for Lake Forest.