The text on the front of this postcard reads: Butler's Lake - "We went to this lake today and one day next week Uncle is going to take us to about half dozen more. Having a swell time."
Butler Lake is a natural body of water fed by Bull Creek that was part of the landscape when pioneers arrived. Horace Butler was the first to purchase and farm land around much of this lake that bears his name. The Butlers were a founding family of Libertyville, arriving here in 1837. Successive generations of Butlers remained on the family estate for many years.
It is not clear which directional view is featured in this postcard. The property in the foreground may be part of the Butler estate. Lake front properties were also owned by the Triggs and other Libertyville families between 1907 and 1909.
In later years land at the north end of the lake was donated to build Butler Lake Park. The Works Project Administration allotted $257,000 in 1937 for the park development. Development included dredging the old lake basin and building up the shoreline, then constructing playgrounds, picnic areas and a large bathing beach. The character of the lakeshore changed again in 1953 when construction commenced on the new Libertyville High School Butler Lake building at the south end of the lake. A new eco-restoration project was started in 2005 to improve the shoreline and re-dredge the lake which had filled with sediment since the last dredging in the late 1930s.
Libertyville History
