Long Grove Historical Society

10/25/2026

Did you know on a busy day, 100 wagon teams brought milk to the Long Grove Creamery?

William Umbdenstock remembered as many as 100 wagons coming to the creamery on a busy day. Farmers brought milk in cans from miles around to the Long Grove crossroads. The creamery served as more than a factory — its statements show that the merchants Stempel and Sauer also served as bankers for the community, distributing the dividends to area dairy farmers.

Where in town did all those wagons line up?

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10/24/2026

Our Spooktacular Ghost Walk Fundraiser last night raised almost 5K for the Historical Society. Thank you to all the volunteers and participants who agreed to take a haunted stroll down our “Witches Road.” If you are interested in being involved in this fun event next year, please contact us via our website: longgrovehistory.org

10/18/2026

Did you know Long Grove butter was sold in New York; the cheese went to Chicago?

The Long Grove Creamery was the chief industry of the town in the 1890s. Its butter was so well-regarded it commanded better than Elgin Board prices and was sold chiefly in New York City. The cheese found a ready market in Chicago. The plant ran on a 12-horsepower engine with two De Laval separators, a 500-gallon churn, and three 700-gallon cheese vats. Output peaked around 13,000 pounds with capacity of 20,000.

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Do you remember this place?

10/11/2026

Long before the village we know today:

Across from the Zimmer Tavern stood a ten-room hotel run by the Zimmer family. Before the days of the automobile, it was a popular stopping place for travelers between Chicago and Lake Geneva. Long trains of grain wagons stopped here on their way to market. The site is currently offices and shops, but the hotel building is one of the original structures of the crossroads.

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Drop a memory or detail in the comments.

10/11/2026

https://longgrovehistory.org/2026-long-grove-ghostwalk/

Friday, October 23 is shaping up to be a fantastic night for Long Grove Ghost Walk—partly cloudy with temperatures in the 50s!

But here's the scary part... we're 85% SOLD OUT!

Grab your tickets before they disappear! 🎃

10/05/2026

The ghosts are waiting at the bridge… but the tickets won’t be. Get your tickets for the Long Grove Ghost Walk at https://longgrovehistory.org/ before they're gone.

10/04/2026

Did you know the Bollenbach blacksmiths lived by one saying?

The Bollenbach blacksmith shop was for years the largest building in town until the Community/Dance Hall went up in 1900. The local saying about them, recorded in print in 1898, was simple: 'anything that Bollenbach's can't fix isn't worth fixing.' They specialized in milk wagons, plow repair, seeder shovels, garden spades, and grinding done by steam power for a quick neat job.

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09/28/2026

Tickets now on sale!

Fancy a creepy historical walk around the coolest downtown in Lake County? Join the Long Grove Historical Society for their annual Long Grove Ghost Walk! The ghosts will be there... will you?

09/27/2026

What changed, and what didn't:

After roughly thirty years as a thriving cooperative, the Long Grove Creamery was sold to the Bowman Dairy Company in 1908. By that time, the railroad in Prairie View was already changing the economics of farming, with milk picked up directly from farms by trucks instead of brought to a central creamery. The sale marked the start of Long Grove's quieter decades.

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09/20/2026

Did you know Threshing Day called for roast beef, fried chicken, and three kinds of pie?

When the threshing crew came to a Long Grove farm, the noon meal was a feast. With perhaps a brief wash at the pump, the men sat down — dust, chaff, and sweat and all — to roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried chicken, beet pickles, cucumbers, applesauce, four kinds of vegetables, fresh-baked bread, jellies, and at least three kinds of pie, with coffee and lemonade to wash it down. Caroline Fehlman Rabbitt remembered her father always said her mother's threshing meals had been the best.

Could you put together a threshing-day meal for a crew today?

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