A North Shore village on a bluff above Lake Michigan, in Lake County, with Metra service toward Chicago.
01 — At a Glance
Lake Bluff, formerly Rockland, is a village in Shields Township, Lake County, Illinois, on the North Shore. The 2020 census counted 5,616 residents. Gazetteer files put the land area at 4.08 square miles. The ZIP code is 60044. The village incorporated on September 21, 1895. Lake Michigan borders it on the east, and the town is named for the bluff along that shore.
02 — History
Lake Bluff was Rockland first, then a Methodist summer resort with more than 30 hotels, then a village with a Fourth of July parade older than its park district. The story is still easy to read in the ravines, the Village Green and East Center Avenue.
1836
John and Catherine Cloes arrived in 1836 with their son Henry and claimed 100 acres running from the lake west to the Green Bay Trail. A year later, William and Mary Dwyer opened a stagecoach stop and tavern on the trail. When John Cloes left for the California gold rush in 1849, Catherine raised their seven children and ran the homestead.
Source: Village of Lake Bluff
1855
When the first railroad through Lake County was finished in 1855, Henry Ostrander offered his land for the depot on one condition: it would be called Rockland. The settlement, until then the Dwyer Settlement or Oak Hill, became the only stop between Highland Park and Waukegan.
Source: Village of Lake Bluff
1875
Methodist ministers led by Solomon Thatcher bought 100 acres of lakefront from Ben Cloes, the youngest son of the first settlers, and formed the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting Association. Rockland was renamed Lake Bluff, and the resort drew speakers such as Frances Willard and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes.
Source: Village of Lake Bluff
1883
Lots sold in 25-foot widths, and a cottage could go up within 20 days for $250. In 1883 an artesian well filled a ten-acre lake around an island where Artesian Park is now, with boating in summer and skating in winter. By the mid-1880s the resort had more than 30 hotels and boarding houses.
1895
Lake Bluff incorporated on September 21, 1895. Charles Trusdell, the first village president, built his home at 115 East Center Avenue, and East School opened that September. The brick railroad station followed in 1904, and the Village Hall that still serves the village went up in 1905.
Source: Village of Lake Bluff · Wikipedia
1911
Lake Bluff’s first Fourth of July parade ran from Village Hall to Lake Front Park, now Sunrise Park, for a patriotic program, games and evening fireworks at the beach. The parade committee later became the Lake Bluff Welfare Association and pushed to improve Ravine Park, where the first park bulletin counted 64 varieties of trees.
Source: Lake Bluff Park District
The Cloes family claimed the first land here in 1836, and the Dwyers opened a stagecoach stop and tavern on the Green Bay Trail in 1837. Other early settlers included Henry and Angeline Ostrander, James Cole and William Whitnell. When the railroad came through in 1855, Ostrander donated the depot site on the condition that it be called Rockland, and a post office and general store opened on Mawman Avenue.
In 1875 a group of Methodist ministers led by Solomon Thatcher of River Forest bought 100 acres of lakefront and formed the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting Association, planning a resort along the lines of the Chautauqua movement in the East. The first hotel, the Bluff Lodge, opened in 1876. By the mid-1880s there were more than 30 hotels and boarding houses and a tabernacle that seated more than 2,000 people. Thatcher called the place “a paradise complete with its ravine and running brook; its bluff and beach; its wooded parks.”
Lake Bluff incorporated in 1895, and the lakefront, Ravine Park and Artesian Park passed to the new village. The brick depot went up in 1904, and the railroad underpass built that year drained Artesian Lake. The present Village Hall followed in 1905. During World War I, Lake Bluff was called the “most patriotic small town in America” for its Red Cross work and the ambulance residents bought and sent to France.
The first Fourth of July parade stepped off in 1911, and fireworks went up from the beach pier through 1929. Residents organized the Lake Bluff Park District in 1925, and the beach opened as a public bathing beach in 1933.
Plans for expansion in the 1920s brought new brick stores to the business block and a large addition to East School before the Depression slowed things down. Growth returned after World War II with new subdivisions along Green Bay Road and three new schools by the end of the 1960s.
Source: Village of Lake Bluff · Lake Bluff Park District · Wikipedia
03 — Shopping & Dining
Most of Lake Bluff’s restaurants and shops sit on Scranton Avenue and East Center Avenue in the village center, with a few more out on Waukegan Road and North Shore Drive.
Seasonal restaurant
Everything is made by hand from scratch, using ingredients from more than 30 local farms.
28 E. Center Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteElevated American
Chef-driven American cooking where everything is house made, down to the sausage and the ketchup, plus a bar program built on smart riffs on the classics.
20 E. Scranton Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteBrewpub
A Scranton Avenue brewpub with its own beers on tap, a food menu and open mic nights.
16 E. Scranton Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsitePizzeria
Pizza for dine-in, carryout and catering, from the same family behind Inovasi.
77 E. Scranton Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteEnglish café
An English café on Scranton Avenue, on the same block as the library and the history museum.
113 E. Scranton Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteItalian beef & hot dogs
Homemade Italian beef, hot dogs, pizza and burgers on Waukegan Road.
203 N. Waukegan Rd., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteGarden center & gifts
A greenhouse and garden center with indoor plants, seasonal décor, gifts, accessories and pet supplies.
975 North Shore Dr., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteJewelry studio
A jewelry studio on East Center Avenue, with walk-in hours midweek and appointments other days.
34 E. Center Ave., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteLetterpress & design studio
A boutique letterpress and design studio for handcrafted invitations, social stationery and business correspondence.
37 Sherwood Terrace, Suite 123, Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit WebsiteFridays, 7 a.m. to noon, June through early October
The 2026 season was the market’s 33rd, with live music and children’s entertainment on the Village Green every Friday morning from June 5 through October 9.
Village Green, Scranton Ave. & Sheridan Rd., Lake Bluff, IL 60044
Visit Website04 — Education
Lake Bluff children attend Lake Bluff School District 65 through eighth grade, then Lake Forest High School in District 115. Forest Bluff School is in the village, and three independent high schools are just south in Lake Forest.
Boundaries follow the address. Confirm school assignment for each address with the district before you buy.
Search HomesPublic · PreK–8
Two schools in the village, plus a preschool program.
Public · 9–12
The only school in Lake Forest Community High School District 115, serving Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Knollwood and parts of Mettawa and North Chicago. The building opened in 1935 and was designed to resemble an estate home.
Montessori · Birth–14
A Montessori school on West Scranton Avenue with mixed-age classrooms and three-year cycles, serving children from birth to age 14.
Independent · 9–12
A co-educational college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Lake Forest.
Independent · Lake Forest
An independent school in Lake Forest with early childhood, lower school and upper school divisions, and a feeder to Lake Forest High School.
Catholic · 9–12
A Catholic college-preparatory day and boarding school for young women, founded in 1858 and part of the Network of Sacred Heart Schools.
05 — Lifestyle
About half of Lake Bluff is residential, and much of the rest is parks. The Park District runs ten parks and open spaces, a pool, a golf course, an ice rink, a paddle hut and a Lake Michigan beach, and Blair, Ravine, Sunrise and Artesian parks are the big four.
Lake Bluff’s Lake Michigan beach, free for residents with a season pass, with a separate dog beach. The Park District board has approved a new master plan for the park and beach.
Beach DetailsHome to the Blair Park Pool, with a main pool and a tot pool for swimmers 6 and under, and a sled hill for winter.
Pool DetailsA public course established in 1968, with outings, events and weekday and weekend offers throughout the season.
Golf ClubA tradition since 1911, run by the all-volunteer Lake Bluff 4th of July Committee. Boy Scouts deliver the parade book to every home in the village.
Visit WebsiteAn afternoon of food and live music that ends with fireworks. This year’s celebration moved to Saturday, October 10, starting at 3 p.m. with fireworks at 6:30.
Event DetailsThe Lake Bluff History Museum’s calendar includes an Auto Show, a Ghost Walk, a Crab Tree Farm tour and the Holiday Home Tour.
EventsHouse baseball, travel baseball and softball run by the Lake Bluff Youth Baseball Association.
Visit WebsiteTravel teams, three-season training and clinics for boys in grades K–12 from Lake Forest and Lake Bluff, with six state championships.
Visit WebsiteYear-round classes such as boys’ flag football and obstacle-course racing for young athletes.
ProgramsStorytimes, family performances and programs for all ages at 123 E. Scranton Ave.
Visit WebsiteA volunteer museum at 127 E. Scranton Ave., with exhibits on the village’s past and a show on the artists who shaped it.
Visit WebsiteLive music, performing arts, the Gorton Drama Studio and art and music classes for kids and adults, just south at 400 E. Illinois Rd. in Lake Forest.
Visit WebsiteUnion Pacific North Line trains stop at 600 Sheridan Rd., running to Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago and north to Kenosha. The station has 204 parking spaces.
Station DetailsU.S. Route 41 passes through the western part of the village, and Interstate 94 lies directly west, both linking commuters to Chicago and Milwaukee.
Getting AroundThe path runs the length of Lake County on the old North Shore Line corridor, crossing the North Shore Bike Path in Lake Bluff and following the Metra line south to Lake Forest.
Trail Details06 — The 60-Second Overview
Four chapters, about fifteen seconds each, on how Lake Bluff began, what the village is today, where ZIP 60044 sits, and what to confirm on a specific home.
0:15
The village incorporated on September 21, 1895. It was formerly called Rockland, and the name comes from the bluff over Lake Michigan. Village Hall is on East Center Avenue, and the village record includes a Friday summer farmers market and an Independence Day parade.
0:30
Lake Bluff is a Lake County village on the North Shore, with Lake Michigan on the east. About half the land is residential and the rest is mainly parks, including Blair, Ravine, Sunrise, and Artesian. The business district is on Scranton Avenue.
0:45
ZIP 60044 is the village code in Lake County, on the North Shore of the Chicago area. Metra’s Union Pacific North Line runs to Ogilvie and Kenosha, with U.S. 41 and I-94 nearby.
1:00
Lake Bluff Elementary and Middle School and Lake Forest High School are the public schools named with the village, along with Forest Bluff School. A Blue Fence Lake Bluff Private Client agent confirms the items for a specific home.
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