We, the members of the Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry, are proud to introduce the 1997 Community Guide to the Fox Lake community published by Village Profile. The businesses and organizations showcased here are your local providers of goods and services. As you look through these pages you will be guided through our Fox Lake community. We hope you will remember to patronize them when shopping. Included is a complete list of our membership. |

The Chamber is presenting this publication as one of our contributions to the community. As we fashion the best ideas of business, industry, governments and service organizations into deeds and actions, we will continue to work in harmony with the residents, helping to shape our Fox Lake community's future.

The Fox Lake Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a voluntary organization working to promote and protect the economic well-being of the Fox Lake community. Our members are dedicated to building a better community for businesses and residents alike. If your business is not a member of this active organization of businesses, industries, governments and service organizations, we invite you to join. Your investment will help make the voice of business even stronger and help us to continue our program of work to benefit the Fox Lake community.

Welcome to the Fox Lake community. It is our pleasure to live, work and grow with you.

Best Regards,

Wllliam Linning, President

Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry

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Visitors have been enjoying Fox Lake hospitality since the first resorts were established in the late 1800's. As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the village's incorporation, we invite you to enjoy the nat ural beauty and recreational opportunities that persuaded so many of us to make this rich area our home. Indeed, we invite you to consider all that Fox Lake has to offer as a location for your business and your home, as well as a destination during your leisure hours.

Where else can you find such a diverse portfolio of strengths - summer and winter recreation, nature's bouncy, convenient access to major transportation routes, a location midway between the Chicago and Milwaukee metropolitan areas, first class sewer and water facilities-all in a small town atmosphere that will lower your blood pressure in less than a weekend. Since 1907, thousands of people have decided Fox Lake is the ideal place to work and play.

With pride in our past and faith in our future, we are looking forward to the opportunities and challenges of the twenty-first century. We look forward to seeing you!

Welcome to Fox Lake

James Pappas

Mayor

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Fox Lake and the Fox Lake region! Simply the mention of this delightful country brings visions of joy to the initiated.... Aladdin with his wonderful lamp, with the great Jinn and a thousand genii at his command, could not secure a more delightful location for his resting hours."

This depiction of the Fox Lake and surrounding Chain O'Lakes recreation area, written almost a century ago in a narrative published by the Fox Lake Commercial Association still is a most accurate description of the peaceful, inviting community of Fox Lake.

Residents here enjoy an unhurried lifestyle, far from the hectic pace of city life yet dose enough to the Chicago metropolitan area(just a 50-mile drive to the Loop) to commute for work,shopping,entertainment or cultural amenities. An estimated one - and - a - half million people visit Fox Lake every year to revel and relax in an array of recreational opportunities; in addition to water sports and recreation, a number of special events take place throughout the year.

Boating is by far the most popular water sport, and a major source of business. More than a dozen marinas are within ~Village limits, and an estimated 80 percent of all Illinois boat sales come from Fox Lake area. And while the spring, summer and early fall vacation season can get hectic on the weekends, residents enjoy quiet country living in Fox Lake during the week.

Geese, deer, ducks, loons and other wildlife are regular visitors to residents' backyards rolling hills, bluffs, wetlands and the lake contribute to panoramic vistas from almost anywhere in the village.

Fox Lake's permanent 8,686+ residents have seeded into a community rich in culture and history. A large percentage are "transplants" from other cities or states who have discovered that the Village of Fox Lake offers the ideal environment to live, work and raise a family .... a sense of community .... a place where folks are friendly and neighborly.

While much of the village's economic base centers on the summer tourism industry, the local year 'round economy is strong, too, with the right balance of services and goods for those who happily and contentedly make Fox Lake their year 'round home.

Fox lake Facts:

The Village of Fox Lake has a rich and colorful heritage. Located approximately 40 miles northwest of Chicago, sources say the name was selected because Potowatomie Indians established the village of Crab Apple Island in Fox Lake which was overly populated with foxes. Other sources maintain that the name is derived from one of the earlier tribes who inhabited the area, the Fox Tribe of the Algonquin Nation.

When McHenry County was established by Illinois legislature in 1837, Fox Lake, a small settlement of Indian encampments with a scattering of hardy white pioneers, was part of the new county. The General Assembly detached part of McHenry County to create Lake Count,v and included Fox Lake in this jurisdiction.

Extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad from Libertyville to Janesville, Wisconsin, with a stop in Fox Lake in 1900 was the single most important factor in establishing Fox Lake as a settlement with a future.

Incorporation of Fox Lake as a village in 1907 was the first official recognition that Fox Lake was a community with a future. The first of the community services was the establishment of the Fox Lake School District in 1907, creation of the Grant Community High School in 1930 and the opening of the Fox Lake Library in 1938.

The foundation for sound, stable economic growth and expansion are in place as a result of solid planning and spirit of cooperation between municipal officials, the business community and residents of Fox Lake.

The lakes are an unquestioned asset, and throughout private and public annexations, the Village has extended its boundaries into McHenry County and north to the Illinois-Wisconsin line to provide attractive new homesite.

Village administration, with the support of the community leaders, had expansion in mind when sewer and water systems were developed so that capacities were designed to provide essential services to the new areas.

Planning for the future in Fox Lake has been done with firm determination to retain the unique advantages of the natural environment while making possible the growth which can bring new advantages to the area.

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Fox Lake is located in northwest Lake County in the heart of the beautiful Chain O'Lakes Resort / recreation area. While quiet and secluded, residents are still only about 50 miles from downtown Chicago: U.S. Route 12 runs through the village and connects commuters to State Route 53 and on to I-90 near O'Hare International Airport, just outside Chicago city limits. State Route 59 runs through Fox Lake on the east and takes northbound travelers to Wisconsin and those southbound to the western suburbs.

Metra's Milwaukee District/North line, from Fox Lake to Chicago, can get commuters into Union Station in about an hour and 20 minutes with a convenient, seven-day-a-week schedule. Metra also provides shoppers and other passengers fast transport to more than 15 towns between Fox Lake and Chicago. And, train travelers can connect with Amtrak at Union Station for journeys across the state or across the country.

Pace suburban bus service serves Fox Lake from the Metra station for commuting in and around the village, with stops at or near shopping centers, Round Lake Senior Center, the College of Lake County, and Gurnee Mills factory outlet shopping center.

For business or leisure air travel, Fox Lake is conveniently situated between two major airports, O'Hare International to the southeast and Milwaukee's Mitchell Field to the north. thin Lake County are Waukegan Regional and Campbell airports.

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More than 180 businesses belong to the Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Members enjoy many benefits and can take advantage of numerous services and resources available through the Chamber, among them:

• Association with hundreds of business men and women in Fox Lake, Spring Grove, Ingleside, Antioch and McHenry. Fellow Chamber members can be a constant source of business for your firm.
• Networking opportunities: through After Hours mixers, committee and task force participation and more
• Chamber Referral Service: Each month, the Chamber office receives hundreds of inquiries concerning area businesses. Only Chamber members are referred (enthusiastically.) to those inquiries.
• Chamber Business Directory: Combined with the Fox Lake Village Profile, this publication is widely distributed to new and prospective businesses and residents throughout the year. Every member is listed - providing you with yet another way to promote your products or services.
• Monthly Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry Newsletter with information about Chamber and community events, meetings, news about other Chamber members, and legislation affecting business.
• Members can also advertise and have announcements published in the newsletter.
• Taking part in efforts to promote and ensure a continuing strong local business climate
• Being a part of an organization that serves as the "voice" for business in addressing government actions that affect business: through the united front of the Chamber, small businesses can have a big voice in local, regional, state and even national government policies and legislation.
  
  
  

The Chamber's regular monthly meetings are held the fourth Thursday of every month (at noon, at Maravela's Restaurant). Prospective members as well as the public are always invited to attend. The Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce is working for your business. Join us for a meeting to see your Chamber in action and then join us! Your annual dues is one of the best business investments you can make, and brings you a wealth of membership benefits.

Call the Fox Lake Area Chamber of Commerce at 847-587-7474, or stop by our office at 66 Thillen Dr. in the Fox Lake Community Center.

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The medical and health care needs of Fox Lake residents are served by local physicians, dentists and other health care providers, as well as several nearby facilities. Wesdake Clinic in Ingleside, the largest multi-specialty clinic in Lake County, has a full staff off physicians specializing in a number of medical disciplines. Its walk-in clinic, open Monday through Saturday, offers both emergency and non-emergency treatment - services includes free blood pressure check, complete physicals, mammography, school and sports physicals, stress testing, x-ray and lab.

Saint Theresa Medical Center in Waukegan, a division of Franciscan Sisters Health Care Corporation, operates a fully-staffed satellite facility in nearby Lake Villa, and an Urgent Care Center in Gurnee. The Lake Villa location is staffed by emergency care physicians and provides lab tests, x-rays and other health services.

Primary Care Family Centers in Antioch, Gurnee and Libertyville specialize in family practice and internal medicine inducing urgent care, obstetrics, pediatrics, sports medicine and preventive health care. The Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry, just a few minutes drive from Fox Lake, provides emergency care as well as non-emergency treatment and health care services.

Other area hospitals induce Highland Park Hospital, which operates satellite facilities in Gurnee, Long Grove, Deerfield and Glenview. Lake Forest Hospital, about 25 miles southeast of Fox Lake, offers a full range of health care services and emergency care.

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