Glencoe Historical Society
at the
Eklund History Center & Garden

GLENCOE—Back in the middle of the 19th century, life was not easy for residents of the area – not yet named Glencoe. Farmers, of German or English decent, worked hard to make a living and too often saw their families decimated by disease or “old’ age, which at the time was anything after 50 years old.

The Daggitt Cemetery, on Lake-Cook Road, is a living history of that time period, when German was the accepted language for many in the area, when children were many but died young, when the Lutheran church and the farm were the centers of life.

Join the Glencoe Historical Society on Sunday, Sept. 8 for a trip back to the Daggitt cemetery, named for Joseph Daggitt, one of Glencoe’s early pioneers. The Society will provide a guide to explain—and read German—gravestones, describe and explain the system of markers in this small but important cemetery and discuss Glencoe life in the 1850s to the turn of the last century. Cemeteries are not always scary or associated with ghosts. Many, like the newly named Daggitt/Grace Cemetery (name for the owner of the land and the Lutheran Church of the area), are living textbooks about the past.

Join us at the cemetery at 2 p.m. for a walk through and talk about farm living in Glencoe’s early formation.

This is the opening program of the Glencoe Historical Society’s 2002-03 year. The Society’s museum at 377 Park Avenue will open Sept. 22, 2–4 p.m. with three new exhibits: Girl Scouting in Glencoe and along the North Shore for the past 80 years; a beginning reconstruction of the Eklund Furniture and Interior Decorators workshop and photos from early Glencoe businesses. A grand opening of the Girl Scout exhibit will be held Friday, Sept. 27 at the society, with wine and cheese refreshments.

For the Daggitt Cemetery tour, meet at the cemetery—Highland Park on the north side of Lake/Cook Rd 1/2 block east of Braeside train station. Cost is $5 for the tour and booklet. Cancelled in case of rain.

The Glencoe Historical Society was founded in 1937 for the purpose of preserving, collecting and cataloguing the history of Glencoe, residents and institutions. The collection is housed at the Eklund History Center and Garden, 377 Park Avenue (at the back of the property). The museum workshop and garden were generously donated in 2001 by longtime Glencoe resident Sally Eklund. Membership is open to the public. Volunteers and donations are welcome.