Gilmer Roadhouse

South corner of N. Midlothian Rd. and N. Gilmer Rd., looking south. A local historian from the Ela Historical Society brought to my attention elsewhere on this site that this intersection was once home to the Yankee Tavern, although it is not the building shown in the photo; the original tavern would be a little south, perhaps just out of the top frame. Also, I learned from him that Gilmer Rd. was originally known as the Chicago to McHenry Rd., which is mentioned in the following excerpt from ‘A History of Lake County Illinois’, published in 1912, with this quoted account written by Lewis O. Brockway, a local of the time:

"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.

We lived on Midlothian Rd near Sylvan Lake in the mid '50s. Even though the Roadhouse was a tavern, I remember walking there to buy snacks.