Chain O'Lakes

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Grass Lake was a "stretch of wild rice and lotus", with lotus beds blossoming in it that constituted over half of the total in all the lakes.[5][6]^: 113 In the early 20th century some boats, due to the shallow water and density of lotuses, had to use a pole ("poling") rather than oars ("rowing").[6]^: 121 During the 1950s through the 1970s, much of the lotus disappeared due to human traffic but there has been a revival in recent years.

There is a historical location in Grass Lake, derived from the tourists who came to see the lotus. At first, this location was known as "Rohema", but also as "Shorty's", after the owner Shorty Shobin. Shorty, however was not the only entrepreneur on the lake. Jack O' Conner owned a houseboat about 100 yards from Shorty, and one night in a card match they wagered their businesses. O'Conner won, and moved his business to the island, naming it Lotus Lodge Hotel, then Hotel Blarney, and finally, Blarney Island as it remains today.[7][6]^: 117

The Chain O'Lakes were formed when the Wisconsin glacier melted, leaving behind many of the lakes now present in the Fox River Valley, including those in the Chain.[8] The Chain O'Lakes region was originally inhabited by various Native American tribes. During the first European visits to the area, the central Algonquian tribes inhabited the region, including the Miami, Mascouten and Potawatomi tribes. The first European explorers to the region were French trappers and traders in the mid-17th century, including Joliet and Marquette.[3]

In the 19th century, a few Europeans began to settle the area. Included in these early settlers were the Dunnill family and Converse Marble, both of whom settled near the border between Pistakee Lake and Nippersink Lake. At that time, the only connection between the two lakes was the Fox River (commonly referred to as the "long channel").[6][9] In order to benefit both of their properties, the Dunnills and Converse Marble dug by hand a new channel between the two lakes which became known as "the Cut" (most likely meaning "shortcut").[6] The "Cut" caused a strong current and fresher water along the east shore of Nippersink Lake. Today, the channel has become deep and wide, being heavily traveled by boaters.[9]

Until the 1880s, European settlements remained sparse in the area due to the difficulty of travel resulting from the wetland areas surrounding the Chain. In the 1890s, the area started to become a popular retreat destination for Chicagoans, with many visitors traveling to the region to take boat trips to see Fox and Grass Lake's "Egyptian Lotus" beds.[8]

Infamous gangster Al Capone

The Chain O'Lakes region saw a boom in development at the start of the 20th century with the introduction of the Milwaukee Road railroad in 1901. The railroad crossed the Chain at its narrowest point between Pistakee Lake and Nippersink Lake, the current location of the US Route 12 crossing. A station was built near the crossing, named Nippersink Point, which would become the center of the Fox Lake community. The railroad provided effective access to the area for Chicago residents, leading to a boom in tourism. This led to the development of several new resorts, which supplemented older resorts such as the famous Mineola.[8]

However, the boom in tourism drew the attention of Lake County leaders, who ordered raids on the numerous unlicensed drinking and gambling establishments. To avoid further raids and fines from the county government, several resort leaders united, incorporating the town of Fox Lake in 1907.[8] When it was incorporated, Fox Lake only had a few hundred residents, but its summer season population was estimated at 20,000. The new town government placed very few restraints on its resorts, with 48 liquor licenses issued just prior to Prohibition.[6] Even after Prohibition, enforcement was relatively low in the region, helping to draw Chicagoans interested in drinking and gambling.[8]

Given the lax alcohol enforcement laws, the region is also famous for its hosting of Prohibition-era gangsters, including Al Capone, who owned a summer house on Bluff Lake near Antioch.[10] He was also reputed to have visited the famous Mineola Hotel in Fox Lake although no formal documentation for this exists.[11] Al Capone's major rival, George "Bugs" Moran, supplied beer and alcohol throughout the Chain O'Lakes region, with stories of him staying at a liquor partner's home on Channel Lake and being arrested at Elizabeth Cassidy's resort on Bluff Lake.[12] The region saw its worst Prohibition violence on 1 June 1930, when a mob-related murder was carried out at Manning's Hotel in Fox Lake. Five people were shot with a machine gun, including members of the Druggan gang, of whom three people were killed.[8][11] Occurring a year after the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, the shooting represented the intensity of the battle to control the Chain's lucrative gambling and liquor business. The crime was never solved.[11]

The Metra Train Station in Fox Lake shown as of 2009

Following the roaring twenties, the Great Depression hit the area hard. The numerous resorts around the Chain closed, signaling the end of the region's heyday as a tourist destination.[6] During this time, many of the summer cottages began to be converted to permanent residences, a trend which continued as veterans returned from World War II. Following the war, the area began to modernize, transitioning to a middle-class community. In addition to bringing in weekend vacationers, the trains now serve the growing suburban worker population who travel into Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.[8] As of the 2000 census, the population of Fox Lake was estimated at over 9,000 people, a major growth from the few hundred permanent residents when the town was incorporated in 1907.[13] The area now reflects a unique blend of year-round residents and summer vacationers.[8]