Lakeland Plaza Fox Lake

Before I-94 came under construction in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Route 12 played a larger role in people traveling from Chicago to the northern suburbs.    Fox Lake was ideally situated by Route 12 and one of the first developers to build brick houses in Fox Lake was Leo Boesch.  Leo Boesch owned property around Dollar Lake as it was known by the locals or as the 1956 map shows below as Deep Lake.    Leo sold the property to people who wanted to build a plaza there.  To build the plaza, they blocked the channel inlet and drained the lake.  Where the Plaza now stands, the parking lot was the lake and the buildings were on the coast line.  A freight car once fell into Dollar Lake and it sank so deep into the mud that with 60 foot long rods they probed the lake but could not find the car.  It is still under the Plaza to this day.

Th Lakeland Plaza Shopping Center was opened in April 1963 on property bordered by Grand Avenue and Rollins Road. The original stores in the Lakeland Plaza when it opened are listed below:

• Sears Roebuck & Company:  Once the world’s largest store (WLS)
• Jewel Food Store: Still a very popular grocery store
• F. W. Woolworth Company: a five and dime store that was always a favorite to go to get three packs of comic books such Casper and Richie Rich
• Frank Shoes
• Schaefer’s Bakery
• National Food Store: was a large chain of food stores at one time.
• Norge Village: a laundry mat
• General Finance Corporation
• Globe Department Store:  a small chain that reached as far as Waukegan
• Dressler Drugs
• Durkin and Durkin Men’s Store