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Letters missing from the sign, the middle reads, "ELA".
Lake Corners, original intersection of Rt 12 and Old McHenry Rd. This is SW corner.There used to be a creamery here in early 1900s.
ELA would make sense since that location is within the borders of Ela Township.
So I came across a very large volume (900+ pages) on the history of Lake County. It's freely available online and I will quote the pertinent part about the building in the photo: "One of the early land marks [sic] of the county was the Yankee Tavern, built by Erastus Houghton in 1836 and noted as a house for the entertainment of travelers. By glancing at a map of the county, from its location it will be seen that it has a fortunate one, being on the line of two main traveled roads. The road running from southwest to northeast was the highway for farmers on their way from Lake Zurich and the southwest part of the county to Libertyville, which was first the county seat, and Little Fort or Waukegan, which was then almost as good a market as Chicago. The other road, leading from northwest to southeast was well traveled by people from the neighborhood of Volo and northern McHenry County in reaching Half Day, Wheeling, and thence to Chicago as well as Port Clinton, which was then a lake port of considerable prominence."
Taken from 'History of Lake County', pages 428 & 429, Chapter XXI. Township of Ela. By Lewis O. Brockway
Rico, the Yankee Tavern was located near the intersection of Gilmer Road and Midlothian Rd. Gilmer Road is the early road mentioned by Louis Brockway, and originally was known as the Chicago to McHenry Road. The Yankee Tavern was located a little south of where the intersection is today because the course of the original road changed slightly. You can see the original route on the 1838 survey map. The Yankee Tavern would have been a log structure I’m sure. I recently did some looking into the old Yankee Tavern and am very familier with it. Ray, Ela Historical Society, elahistorica@gmail.com
Ray, thank you again for setting me straight. That does make more sense that it would be situated there and be a log cabin type structure. I jumped to a conclusion by looking at the “Liquors & Wines” sign in the picture. This is very exciting and now I have some more reading to do.
In case anyone is ever wondering, Rand Road (Rt. 12) was known as the "Lake Zurich & Chicago Road", but often referred to as "Chicago Road" in the text I cited.