Some History about Glencoe

 Glencoe Illinois is a small suburb about 15 miles north of Chicago. The information available on the town prior to European settlement is scarce. However it is known that the land originally belonged to and was inhabited by Potawatomi people. They fished in Lake Michigan and the Skokie marsh (Kettle). They called the marsh "Chewbab skokie" which translates to "big wet prairie"(Skokie Lagoons Wiki). Additionally, they hunted game in the heavily wooded ravines, but lived in lands drier towards the south of present-day Glencoe (Kettle). 

In 1835, Anson Taylor became the first white settler of the town. He opened a storefront that operated as an inn for stagecoach travelers along Green Bay Road, which connects Chicago and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Up until the Civil War, the town was known as Taylorsport after its first settler (Encyclopedia of Chicago). A couple decades later, just after the Civil War, Glencoe was a stop along a railroad track spanning from Milwaukee to Chicago. This rapidly increased the traffic and settlement of the town. Nowadays, the Glencoe train station runs parallel to the Green Bay Trail, which is a nice stretch of green space for the area that spans the length of the town running north-south.

Once the population expanded, there was demand for more housing. Though there had been attempts at draining the Skokie marsh in west Glencoe before, nothing ever proved very successful. In 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps began working on their largest initiative—the Skokie Lagoons (Forest Preserve of Cook County). The project resulted in massive changes to the landscape of west Glencoe, as well as its neighboring town Winnetka. It also allowed people to inhabit the nearby land as flooding was no longer a threat. Originally a marshy wetland, the area is now a few miles stretch of manmade lagoons nearly 10 feet deep. The Cook County Forest Preserve manages the land, and deals with constant environmental stress from invasive species like buckthorn. These shrubs have dominated the landscape ever since its transformation. The water itself is no better. The lagoons were stocked for recreational fishing, which remains a popular spot. However, in recent years, its crappie population has boomed. Additionally, similar to Lake Michigan, it has zebra mussel problems (Illinois Department of Natural Resources). Despite its ecological issues, the lagoons make for great running and biking trails which are enjoyed by many throughout the Chicagoland area.

Neighboring the lagoons to the north is the Chicago Botanical Garden. The gardens are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen, and impeccably managed. Aside from Lake Michigan, the Botanical Garden is likely the greatest tourist attraction about the town nowadays. Additionally, the town is home to the third largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright homes in the world (Glencoe Historical Society). Glencoe's land has changed much over the nearly two centuries since Anson Taylor first arrived. However, its lakefront still keeps it an attractive location for those moving into the suburbs.

(Just one of the many beautiful photos of the Chicago Botanical Gardens)
 

(a modern drone shot of the Skokie Lagoons!)

Sources:

https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Products/9780738520193#:~:text=Situated%20on%20Lake%20Michigan%20in,the%20Chicago%20and%20Milwaukee%20Railroad. (preview of the book- did not purchase)

http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/518.html

https://www.ifishillinois.org/profiles/waterbody.php?waternum=00170

https://glencoehistory.org/

Photos:

https://www.istockphoto.com/photos/chicago-botanic-garden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skokie_Lagoons