The Native Americans who lived in the Chain O’Lakes area before Illinois was a state were the Iroquois, Algonquin, Potawatomi, Mascouten, Sac, Fox and the Miami. In 1818, Illinois became a state, but the last area of the state to be ceded to the U.S. was by the Potawatomi Indians in the Chain O’Lakes area, and it was not until June in 1840 that land of Lake County area had been surveyed and made ready for sale. There were some settlers here prior to that though. McHenry County was established in 1837, but Fox Lake area still had some Native Americans living there. The first settlement of the township was at fort hill which served as a lookout point for Indians and it also had good fertile soil. Prior to this, Chief Blackhawk had come to what is present day Big Hollow Junction at route 134 and route 12 for sanctuary, but the Potawatomi’s refused him fearing to lose their land also. Chief Blackhawk had regarded the eastern boarder of the Fox River as his rightful hunting grounds.
The Fox River begins near Menomonee Falls Wisconsin and enters Illinois just south of Wilmot Wisconsin traveling 70 miles, and enters the Chain. The Chain O’Lakes is composed of ten lakes connected by the Fox River and another five by canals and channels. The ten lakes are: Grass Lake, Lake Marie, Nippersink Lake, Bluff Lake, Fox Lake, Pistakee Lake, Channel Lake, Petite Lake, Lake Catherine and Redhead Lake. The remaining lakes are: Duck Lake, Long Lake, Spring Lake, Dunns Lake and Brandenburg Lake.
Prior to 1890, it was difficult to travel to the Chain until the train arrived. Before that, the chain was virtually inaccessible other than to follow partially improved Indian trails. In 1899, the Milwaukee Road brought its tracks as far west as Ingleside. From the station, one could take a horse and carriage to the big tourist business starting in the area. Other industries important in the area were boat building and ice harvesting. A popular attraction was the Lotus flower. It was a fragrant, lemon-colored flower which bloomed almost exclusively on the lakes in and surrounding Grant Township.
My grandmother’s family would come every summer when she was a child to The Antrim off a Squaw creek in Ingleside. The road pictured above would later be called Grand Avenue in which my grandmother would walk to downtown Ingleside one way or to St. Mary of the Lake (later to be called St.Bede's church which was located where the cemetry is now) in the other direction. All along the road were wild asparagus and elderberries for everyone to pick. They would also pick wild mushrooms where my great grandmother would prepare them and eat them first. If she was fine the next day, the rest of the family would then eat them. I always liked the rhyme to tell which berries to pick that my mom taught me which goes as follows: White do not bite. Purple and blue, good for you. Red could be good, cold be dead.
When my grandmother was a little older, she enjoyed going to the dance pavilion next to Krasny’s (Around 1930, Krasny's was renamed The Roxana). She took a boat ride from The Antrim to Krasny’s, but got out of the boat a little early and tipped it and everyone fell out. Back then, when you went out, you always wore your finest, so as you could guess, she was not too popular with the others going along with her that day.
Below is a map of when my grandmother was a child visiting Fox Lake. The Below Map had the date left opened which I take allowed them to send out for multiple years. It listed the President of Fox Lake as John G Brown which would put it somewhere from 1907 to 1913. Other people listed are Village Clerk Geo. W. Koeth, Trustees: A.C. Born, Ben Lawrence, Harry Dunnill, Chas F. Pasdeloup, James Hayek, Attorney Ben H Miller, Treasurer J. C. Diener, Police Magistrate Geo M. Maypole, Marshal Ray W. Morrill, Asst. Marshal Geo Jackson
List of Hotels and Attractions
Being very old, many of the characters are hard to see, but hoepfully you can see where the resorts are located at.
Fox Lake
1. Fox Lake Post Office and Village, 2. Howard Mineola, 3. Fox Lake Hotel, 4. Lakeside, 5. Waltonian, 6. Point Comfort, 7. Krossman’s, 8. Buss Lake View, 9. Gahler’s 10. Schulz’s, 11. Bay View, 12. New Comfort, 13. Illinois, 14. Antlers, 15. Dunnill House, 16. Red Top Inn Hotel, 17. Woodlawn, 18. Muench, 19. Pistakee Lake Hotel, 20. Englewood, 21. Eagle Point Rest, 22. Collins House, 23. Rose Villa, 24. Krueser’s, 25. The Frog, 26. Olsen’s Resort, 27. Pete’s Stag, S. Klondike
Ingleside
A. Ingleside Station, B. Lippincott, C. Krasny, D. Goll, E. The Antrim, F. Liberty Club, G. Aulehla, H. East Side, L. Kaiping House, M. Johnson House.
Antioch
I. Carlson Inn, J. Columbia Club, K. Hostetter’s Inn, X. L. Rothers, Y. Selters
Mchenry
O. Kingsley’s, P. Stilling’s, Q. Oak Park Hotel, R. Pistakee Point Club
Spring Grove
T. Vidards, U. Jackson Brothers, V. Shorty’s, W. Nelson’s
Below is a map I got out of the Fox Lake Jubilee 75th anniversary.
I zoomed in on some of the images and retyped some of the names for a couple are hard to see.
Lippincott Hotel,The Mineola, Fox Lake Hotel, Olsen’s Hotel, Waltonian Hotel, Lakeside Hotel, Woodlawn Hotel, Point Comfort Hotel, Krossman’s Hotel, Lake View Hotel, Gahlers Hotel, Bay View Hotel, New Comfort Hotel, Illinois Hotel, Nippersink Point, Pistakee Country Club, Lechner Hotel, Modern Bungalows Public Boat Landing, Scotts Landing, Pistakee Lake Hotel, Pistakee Beach Hotel, Rosa Villa, Kreuser’s Rookfry, Eagle Point
East Side Hotel, Fox Lake Yacht Club, Willow Point, Fox Lake Country Club, Cottages
Columbia Club, Cushing’s Hotel, Queen, Selter Hotel, Grass Lake Gun Club, Herman Hotel, Forbrich Hotel, Paddock Hotel, Kepner Hotel, Toby Inn, Sylvan Beach Hotel, Smith Hotel, Gifford Hotel, Jackson Resort
Pistakee Inn, Pistakee Yacht Club, Stilling Hotel, Oak Park Hotel, Pitson’s Point, Bald Knob, German Village
Below is a vacation map of the Chain O'Lake area. No date was given on it, but by the looks it seems to be around the 50's.
