How many movies have you watched from home over the last few years? What TV shows have you been binge watching? Today we take for granted the wide range of visual and audio entertainment that is available to us on demand, whenever and wherever we want it, but it was not much over one hundred…
Anyone who has driven by the Vernon Hills Hawthorn Mall recently can see big changes are in store (no pun intended). But how did it all start? From millionaire farmers to small scrappy towns, there's a surprisingly rich history prior to the arrival of the mall in early 1970's. During the late 19th and early…
It's the podcast's 100th episode! And what better way to celebrate than by exploring the library's own 100th birthday. As part of Cook Library's Centennial Celebration, Local History Librarian Jenny Barry walks us through the first 40 years of the Cook Memorial Public Library up until 1960. Hear what it was like using the library…
As the 1960s opened, the Libertyville Township Library continued to face the pressing problem of a severe lack of space to serve a growing patron base. In 1960 the population of Libertyville Township, the area served by the library, stood at 19,481. The home of Ansel B. Cook had been a boon to library service…
Libertyville has been home to many Lake County firsts, but did you know it was the first county seat? Through a series of events, including but not limited to surreptitious petitioning and a rather bitter political feud, Libertyville went from a small but upcoming village to county seat, then back to a village. Arriving in…
The Cook Memorial Library entered the 1950s stuffed to the gills in a repurposed house in need of repairs. Discussion of a possible addition in the early 1940s led nowhere and the funds available for improvements to the building were low. Despite these challenges, the library continued to move forward to serve patrons of all…
As the 1930s came to a close, Libertyville looked forward to the possibility of an expanded Cook Memorial Library. The library’s collection of 15,000 books was crammed in the first floor of the former Cook home and the structure was in need of external repairs. In 1939, the Libertyville Lions Club formed a Cook Memorial…
In late 1929, a number of Mundelein residents circulated a petition requesting a branch of the Cook Memorial Library be opened to serve residents in the western part of Libertyville Township (the western border of the township is Route 45/Lake Street in Mundelein) . Space was secured at the McBride Hardware store on Maple Avenue…
Lake County Register, March 28, 1923, p. 1 During the Roaring Twenties, the Cook Memorial Library underwent growth and development on every front, from the building to the staff to the collection to its very organization. The two biggest changes happened in 1923: the library board hired a new librarian, and the library taxing boundaries…
The Ansel B. and Emily Barrows Cook Memorial Library, circa 1923Cook Memorial Public Library collection From a collection of books in the homes of members of the Alpha Club in 1909, to a subscription library on a drugstore's shelves, to a room in the village hall....the Libertyville public library would finally find a home in…
