The purpose of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society is to collect and preserve historical material and information relative to Libertyville, Mundelein and surrounding areas in Lake County, Illinois.

About Us

The Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society...

• has refurbished and is maintaining the Ansel B. Cook Home as a museum and historical site. The home is open Sundays during June, July and August from 2 to 4 p.m.
• conducts tours by appointment.
• presents popular programs on local history at the lower level meeting room of the Cook Memorial Public Library, 413 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Libertyville, on the third Monday of September, October, November, January, February, March, April, and May.
• holds a Victorian Christmas Open House in the Cook Home on designated weekends in December.
• conducts field trips to historic places in the area.
• maintains a local history information file that is used by the press and the public.
• publishes a newsletter.

Unless otherwise noted, all programs will be held in the lower level meeting room of the Cook Memorial Library, 413 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Libertyville, Illinois at 7:30 p.m.

September 15, 2008 "Frontline to Homefront: Lake County in the Civil War"
Diana Dretske, Lake County Discovery Museum
October 20, 2008 "The Many Faces of Alice In Wonderland"
Lynn and David Kublank
November 17, 2008 "American Dime-Store Soldiers"
Larry Alkire
December, no meeting, Victorian Christmas Open House

The Ansel B. Cook Home and Museum is open to the public on Sundays during June, July, and August from 2 to 4 p.m.
Suggested donation:
$2 adults
$1 seniors and students

Group tours of the Ansel B. Cook Home and Museum can be arranged by appointment. For further information contact Audrey Krueger through the Cook Memorial Public Library, 847-362-2330.

Take a step back in time and celebrate the holidays in the Victorian mode by visiting an authentic late 1800s home during our seasonal open house. Our knowledgable guides will be available to answer questions about the Cook family, the home, the furnishings and the special Christmas decorations. The Ansel B. Cook Home and Museum is open to the public on the following dates in 2008:

Friday, November 28, 7 - 9 p.m.
Saturday, December 6, 12 - 4 p.m.
Sunday, December 7, 12 - 4 p.m.
Saturday, December 13 12 - 4 p.m.
Sunday December 14, 12 - 4 p.m.
Saturday, December 20, 12 - 4 p.m.

Suggested donation:
$2 adults
$1 seniors and students

The Society Needs

• Your Ideas
• Your Energy
• Your Comradeship
• Your Financial Support

If you are interested in joining the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society, please fill out our membership application. The Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society has no endowments and is dependent on the support of interested persons and organizations whose gifts and monetary contributions make possible the growth and maintenance of the Victorian home and museum. We thank you for your support.

On September 27, 2007 members of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society Board were treated to an exclusive tour of Adlai Stevenson’s home south of Libertyville on St. Mary’s Road. The home and grounds are being preserved to their 1965 state by the Lake County Forest Preserve. The grounds will be open to the public in the fall of 2007 and interior exhibits should be completed by late spring of 2008. Katherine Hamilton-Smith, Director of Cultural Resources at the Lake County Discovery Museum, was our tour guide for the morning. She has been intimately involved in the entire preservation and restoration process. Ms. Hamilton-Smith showed us around the service building as well as the house. She gave us wonderful background information on Stevenson and the preservation process that the Forest Preserve has gone through. The tour was a highlight of the fall season for us.

The Cook Family

On December 2, 1849, Cook Married Helen Maria Foster. She was born March 3, 1828 in Orange County Vermont, daughter of Dr. Jesse H. Foster. Dr. Foster’s family moved to Libertyville about 1847, and he became the town’s first physician. The Cook’s two children died in infancy, but they raised an adopted daughter, Ida F. Cook, who graduated with first honors of the class from Lake Geneva Seminary.

Mrs. Cook was killed in a railroad accident in 1881 as the couple traveled from Chicago to their Libertyville home. The following year Cook married Annie Barrows, a native of Connecticut. The second Mrs. Cook died in 1891, and he then married her sister, Emily Barrows. Cook died in 1898, but the third Mrs. Cook lived until 1920. Graceland Cemetery in Chicago is the final resting place of the Cook family.

Historic Libertyville Site

The Cook mansion is the site of the first permanent dwelling in Libertyville. In 1835, early settlers found the George Vardin family occupying a one-room log cabin on the site. The Vardins moved out of the area the following year, and in 1837, the lob cabin became Libertyville’s first post office. A replica of the building can be seen at the Lake County Discovery Museum near Wauconda.

In 1870, Ansel Cook purchased the property from his foather-in-law for a country residence, and work began on the home, outbuildings, and formal gardens. The present building was build in 1878, and William W. Boyington is thought to have been the architect.

Cook Memorial Library

Ansel Cook’s will of 1894 stipulated a brick or stone memorial be constructed at a cost of at least $10,000 and that a library be attached. However, the will stipulated that nor more than $2500 should be spent on books.

In 1910, the Alpha Club, forerunner of the Libertyville Women’s Club, opened a circulating library. The books and periodicals were initially stored in Decker and Bond’s Drug Store and later in the Village Hall. The Club donated its library to the Cook memorial Library following the 1920 death of Emily Barrows Cook. After the mansion’s front porch was removed, the exterior stuccoed, the pillars added, and the upper floor converted into living quarters for the librarian, Cook memorial Library opened in 1921.

Ansel Brainerd Cook Victorian Home Museum

In 1968, following construction of the present Cook Memorial Library, the Cook mansion became the headquarters of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. Since then, the interior has been restored, but most of the original furnishings were dispersed after Emily Cook’s death. As suitable items become available, they are acquired to upgrade the museum.

Some of the rooms are reserved for museum-type displays while others depict Victorian period rooms. Other space is used to store records of the Society and records of early events, organizations, businesses, churches, and schools. The home is open to the public at designated times throughout the summer months and by appointment at other times.

National Register of Historic Places

The Ansel B. Cook Home was built in 1868 and from 1921 to 1968 served as Cook Memorial Library. In 2001, Cook Memorial Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A History of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society
by Arlene Lane

The Ansel Brainerd Cook Victorian Home and Museum is the crown jewel of downtown Libertyville, elegantly gracing Cook Park and Milwaukee Avenue. Visitors instantly step back in time when they walk through the door into the beautifully restored rooms containing hundreds of carefully arranged antique furnishings and artifacts. In the archives a wealth of unique documents, photographs, and memorabilia are preserved for future generations. The house stands as a wonderful tribute to the dedicated members of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society who have embraced a mission of preservation for the past fifty years.

Who started this monumental task of preservation and how was it accomplished? Initially, it was Cook Memorial Library board members who brought up the idea of forming a group to preserve our local history. Mrs. Wilbur M. Kreiger and librarian Mrs. John Littler were probably the most instrumental in the beginning stages of the formation. Their original idea was to form a historical society as a department of the library. The first meetings to discuss this idea were held in the library in September of 1954. At that time the library was housed in what is now the Cook Home and Museum. The meetings were well attended, but principally by women. According to archived notes, “It was suggested that the meetings be held in the evening, thereafter, to enable more men to attend. At about this time, the redecoration of the upper rooms of the library was completed and meetings were held in these, and in the evening, thereafter.”

Evening meetings were held during the next several months, where the enthusiastic response of those in attendance proved that an historical society could be successfully supported. A meeting held on January 15, 1955, featured local histories collected by the Reverend Thomas Sampson, planting the seed for a historical document collection. During an April 1955 meeting a steering committee was elected. Members of the committee included: Mrs. W. O. Bell, Mrs. O. L. Hawk, Mrs. V. C. Baldwin, Lawrence M. Crawford, Charles E. Carroll, David Pettengill, and Mrs. J. M. Littler, librarian. The committee’s task was “to form an organization which would ensure perpetuation of the search for and preservation of local historical facts and memorabilia.”

The recording secretary’s notes state that, “In June, the library board decided that the historical group should elect its own officers and arrange its own programs, thus relieving the library personnel of some of the responsibility, but still remaining under the sponsorship of the library.” The steering committee set to work and compiled a list of recommendations, proposing the society be named the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. The stated purpose was “to discover, study, discuss, collect, and preserve information and materials relative to the history of the community.” Membership was opened to all interested residents of the area with annual dues set at $1.00. A slate of officers was nominated: President David Pettengill, Secretary-Treasurer Charles Carroll, and Custodian and Hostess Mrs. J. M. Littler.

Mrs. Littler opened the following meeting on July 25, 1955, and presented the recommendations of the steering committee. All recommendations were unanimously approved and the officers were elected for a term of one year, officially establishing the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. David Pettengill took over the meeting as the new president. A program of stories related by old-time residents followed. Among the storytellers were Mrs. J. J. Doershuk, Robert Rouse, and James Swan. The new Society was underway.

In the first year of operation, from September 1955 to September 1956, 64 people joined the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. During the next two years membership increased along with the number of donated items. By-laws were written and passed, and on April 25, 1957, a certificate of incorporation as a not-for-profit organization was granted by the state of Illinois. Mrs. Littler agreed to serve as archivist, but she was overwhelmed with a flood of documents and items. Members Carl Ciczek, Bertha Nicholas, and Mrs. C. O. Carlson volunteered to help Mrs. Littler in the huge task of sorting, identifying, and cataloging the donations.

The Cook House became the official home of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society when the Cook Memorial Library moved into its present building in 1968. Books were moved out and the emptied rooms waited to be restored and filled with furnishings to recreate a Victorian-era home. A community-wide effort resulted in a wealth of donations. The Society also set up an archive for the collection of unique and irreplaceable documents.

The monumental task of restoring the Cook House to its original domestic style began in the mid-1970s. The Society spent a total of $10,000 repainting, refinishing, and restoring the house. A grant from the Village of Libertyville helped, but the balance of the money needed was collected by the Historical Society. The funds were to be used to recreate the splendor of the home in time for the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. Woodwork and floors were stripped to their original finish, wallpaper and carpeting were installed, and major structural changes, such as the replacement of an eight-foot wall, removed during the home’s use as a library, were completed. Under the able leadership of president Mavis Wilke and decorating committee members Shirley Luebbers, Reva Konefes, and Marie and Joe Janik, the Cook House debuted for the 1976 summer season.

During this same time period, in December of 1973, the Cook House opened its doors for its first Christmas house walk. Members began donating antique ornaments to create a lovely “old-time” Christmas tree, beginning the celebration of an annual Victorian Christmas tradition.

In 1978 the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society accepted the Illinois State Historical Society’s Award of Merit for the restoration of the house and its furnishings. More awards were to follow. Libertyville’s historic Milwaukee Avenue corridor, including the Cook House and other downtown properties, won the 1997 Great American Main Street Award. At the suggestion of Jerry Schulkin, the Society submitted an application in 1999 to place the Cook House on the National Register of Historic Places. Dean Larson led a two-year effort along with Jerry to secure this national distinction. Because the building’s exterior had been remodeled in 1921 when it became Cook Memorial Library, the structure did not qualify to be listed as the Ansel B. Cook Home, but it did qualify as the first public library building in Libertyville. On August 16, 2001, Cook House was triumphantly recognized on the National Register of Historic Places for serving as Cook Memorial Library beginning in 1921.

The Libertyille-Mundelein Historical Society can be proud of the many distinctions it has received since its inception fifty years ago. Generous donations of time, effort, money, and artifacts have all contributed to the Society’s success. Today the Society has over 160 members. Hundreds of visitors have stepped through the Cook House doors during the annual summer and Christmas open houses. The house is filled with furnishings, household items, toys, pictures, dresses, and gadgets to leave a lasting impression of a bygone era. The archive is filled with unique research documents and photographs that have educated and delighted researchers, students, and local residents. The original goals set forth by the society have certainly been accomplished, but there is always more work to be done. History is never complete; it is a work in progress.