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Laurie Stein, Deputy Director and Head of Curation at the History Center of Lake Forest–Lake Bluff, explores the early settlement of northeastern Illinois with a focus on Lake County and the communities of Lake Forest and Lake Bluff. Stein examines who the region’s early homesteaders were, what drew them here, and how they laid the groundwork for the communities we know today. Tracing the area’s transformation from the hand-hewn log homes and roadside taverns of the 1830s to the platting of Lake Forest in 1861, this program follows the shift from frontier settlement to planned community—culminating in the rise of elegant estates and a new business district.