Mineola Hotel Fox Lake Illinois

THE VILLAGE OF FOX LAKE, NORTHWEST OF CHICAGO, IS SITUATED AMONG THE CHAIN O' LAKES - PISTAKEE LAKE, NIPPERSINK LAKE AND FOX LAKE.  Many well-to-do Chicagoans built or bought  their summer homes, where swimming, boating, jet skiing, fishing, tubing and boarding are popular activities.  The current mayor is Donny Schmit.

WINTER SCENES

MINEOLA HOTEL   THE GRAND LADY OF THE LAKES

Mineola Hotel  Circa 1935

It was built in 1884 as a summer retreat and clubhouse by five wealthy businessmen and members of Chicago Board of Trade.  In 1901, it was sold to Edison C. Howard and remodeled into public hotel featuring 100 rooms, 79 of them for sleeping.  In a 1920 hotel registry the charge for room stay was $4 to $5.50 per night.  The largest wooden structure in Illinois, it measured 250 feet long and four-stories high on the side facing Fox Lake.  During prohibition, it was a favorite hideout of world-famous gangster Al Capone.  In 1943, Peter Jakstas, Sr., a beer truck driver, bought the Mineola Horel for $36,000.  Four generations of Jakstas Family privately own the iconic place.  In 1979, it was added to National Register of Historic Places.

In 2012, the bar and banquet hall, of what was left, closed due to a lawsuit to the Mr. Peter Jakstas, Jr. and family that cost the village $50,000.

Since I was around the neighborhood Thanksgiving Day, my friends and I went around to check on the historic building.  I said to myself, self, it's a bit dilapidated and need of a paint.  Fox Lake is a touristy summer place and this hotel should be preserved.  How?  Renovate and remodel: cut the size to 50 rooms, make it modern and boutique-looking.  Bring back the bar room and banquet hall seating to 100.  Maybe some slot machines?  The makeover should not cost that much?  Folks of the village would like to do a fundraising which is a big idea.  Call those big shots at the Chicago Board of Trade to give back again.  By next summer the hotel is as good as new.

Dated  November 27, 2014   2:30 PM

Saw black squirrels playing and climbing trees 

Recycled Web Page

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Fox hunting in the UK is illegal as of Saturday.   Well, tally ho!  As one of the royal watchers, this is soon to be legal though ....giddiyap, giddiyap Camilla.

Published 2/20/05  ALT  MSN Group
Web Page: Fox Hunting