That's the Grayslake Gelatin Factory. The buildings were all torn down about a month ago, but the smokestack is still there. Don't know if they still plan to preserve the smokestack or not, but hope they do! http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20...

The land of the Grayslake Gelatin Factory and the Soo Line railroad tracks was on land that was originally purchased from the U.S. Government by Anthony Johnston. In 1853, Charles W. Whitehead (1831-1904) from England, settled in Lake County and purchased this land.

In 1885, The Wisconsin Central Railroad built the train tracks through Grayslake to transport lumber, livestock, agricultural produce, ice and tile from Stevens Point, WI into Illinois. In 1961, the railroad company changed its name to Soo Line. In 1987, the name was changed again to Wisconsin Central.

The Whitehead farm land, in 1895, was sold to Charles F. Kuebker (1863-1940) of Palatine, IL, who was born in Germany, and moved here with his wife, Mary M. (Pohlman) Kuebker (1870-1949) and sons. In 1896, a small plot of land along the train tracks was sold by Kuebker and a brick and tile factory was built. In 1903, the small factory plot was sold and the Grayslake Canning Company was established. According to the 1907 Avon Township plat map, Mr. Kuebker owned 142.58 acres.

In April 1910, several men from Rockford purchased the Grayslake Canning Company that had been idle for 2 years forming the P. Hohenadel and Company corn and pea canning plant. They invested $100,000 into the plant and completed a deal to purchase the Charles Kuebker farm along with the Hoffman and Moore farms. The company used the farm lands to grow the corn. In June of that year, a fire burned all the outbuildings. In 1916, J. B. Inderriden purchased the cannery. The canning company, in 1917, shipped out 1,800,000 cans of peas raised on the surrounding farm lands and many of the cans were shipped to France used by the armies of the U.S. and its Allies. Eventually, the Grayslake Gelatine Co. purchased the property.

In 1912, the Wisconsin Milk Company from Burlington, WI, also built a factory here and in 1919, Nestle's Food Company purchased the milk company. The Nestle's plant closed in 1922 because of its struggles with dairy farmers.

In the meantime, the son of Kuebker, Charles Kuebker, Jr. purchased the Harley Darby milk route in 1925 and founded the Grayslake Dairy to process and deliver milk using the former bunkhouse of the closed canning factory. In 1936, the dairy operation ceased and the land continued as a dairy farm. Finaly, the farm land was sold to John Epstein of the Grayslake Gelatin Company in 1967.

Harry Epstein (1877-1953) was the founder of the Grayslake Gelatin Company. He discovered a way how to use slaughtered animal skin as a raw material for his gelatin production. In October 1922, he and his partner, Thomas Tenant, began their operation in the vacated Nestle's building. Their partnership ended in 1929. In 1933, the canning factory buildings were purchased. After the death of Harry, his son, John Henry Epstein (1919-1988) ran the company. Manufacturing of gelatin continued until 1982. This location was closed but the Great Lake Gelatin company continued in 1988 at another location in Grayslake. The total acreage acquired by the company grew to about 1,000 acres of farm land located in the surrounding area including Hainesville.

In 1979, 14 acres of the farm land was sold to the Village of Grayslake to form Central Park. The Grayslake Gelatin Company closed in 1982. In 1989, the Epstein family began selling land to pay the estate taxes after the death of John Epstein. The Village purchased an additional 40 acres in 1991 and a library, senior citizen housing, aquatic center, community garden and skate park were established. In 2016-2017, the final 10 acres of property were purchased including the gelatin company buildings that were demolished and Central Park was expanded.

I 1994, Grayslake Gelatin Company donated one acre of land to the Grayslake Area Public Library District, which purchased another four and built a new library. The land is between the Dog’n’Sudz property on the south, Grayslake‘s Central Park on the North, Grayslake Gelatin property (now part of the park complex) on the west and other private property on the east.. The southwest corner of the library’s land is under the Vintage Aerial logo.