Historic home of the week - Ansel B. Cook Home

Photo by Kathleen Strelow

In the heart of Cook Park, the Ansel B. Cook Home is the site of the first permanent dwelling in Libertyville. Early settlers in 1835 found George Vardin and his family living in a one-room log cabin on this very site. The Vardins moved out of the area in 1836 and their cabin became the town’s first post office in 1837. A replica of this cabin can be found at the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda.

Ansel Cook purchased the property from his father-in-law in 1870 for his county residence. Work then began on the home, outbuildings and formal gardens, with the present building being finished in 1878.

Ansel Cook entered the building contractor field in 1853 and laid the first flagstones in the city of Chicago, including all that are around the old Cook County Court House. He also had a masonry contract for the historic Water Tower. Following the Chicago Fire of 1871, he and his brother operated a stone yard on what is now the site of the Sears Tower. In 1894 he planned the new Libertyville Town Hall, which is now the Libertyville American Legion Hall.

Cook’s 1894 will stipulated that a memorial of brick or stone be constructed for at least $10,000 and that a library be attached. Interestingly enough, no more than $2,500 was allowed to be spent on books! The Alpha Club opened a circulating library in 1910 and in 1920 donated its library to the Cook Memorial Library.

After the mansion’s front porch was removed, a stucco exterior was added, front pillars were added and the upper floor was converted to living quarters for the librarian, the Cook Memorial Library opened in 1921.

In 1968 the mansion became the headquarters of the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society. Some of the mansion’s rooms are reserved for museum-type displays, while others depict Victorian period rooms.

The mansion was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 2001.