Libertyville landmark gets a makeover after 75 years

The sunken garden in Libertyville's Butler Lake Park is a popular spot for family portraits and photos on wedding days, prom nights and other special occasions.

The serene attraction abuts Lake Street, a well-traveled, curving route that connects two major roads and separates the park from the lake. A low wall, painstakingly constructed piece by piece of natural-faced limestone, is the sturdy accent for a scenic feature often taken for granted.

Over the years, volunteers revived, cared for and added vegetation. But for what may be the first time since it was built about 75 years ago, the 370-foot long wall is getting a makeover.

The expansive project was prompted by Logan Clark, a 17-year-old Libertyville High School senior and Eagle Scout candidate. His idea has united others in an unforeseen but welcome alliance and rekindled historical interest in the area.

Clark is well-acquainted with the sunken garden, where he stops often on bike rides with friends. As he pondered what amounts to the final exam in his Scouting career, Clark earlier this year decided the wall work was worth pursuing.

"It has to be something for the community that will last a significant amount of time," he said of the project requirements. "Something that you'd build that will last, is what it's supposed to be."

So began an effort for which a professional would charge about $26,000.

"This is major," said Mike Graham, vice president of Landscape Concept Management, the Grayslake firm providing materials and supervising Clark's portion of the work.

Clark proposed to rebuild a portion of the wall and contacted Graham - the father of one of his friends - for construction advice. As the idea unfolded, it came to the attention of Suzanne Liermann, who went to high school with Graham and whose mother was good friends with Graham's mother.

"I thought maybe he was going to come and plant a couple of bushes or something," she said of Clark's idea. The garden has a special significance because her late mother, Valerie Carlson, lived in a house bordering the park and upon her retirement in 2008 she began tending and improving the sunken garden. Village crews mow the lawn, but volunteers do the majority of the other maintenance.

A native of Bristol, England, Carlson had a special affinity for the garden and worked at it until her death in February.

"She just started weeding and would come out for an hour or two at a time," Liermann said. "I remember her saying once it would be nice to get the wall redone but it will never happen."

Graham, a lifelong resident of Libertyville who lives nearby, suggested it would make sense to restore the entire wall at once. His proposal to the village was to provide the material and supervision for Clark's labor, have his company donate the time and materials to do another third of the project, and have the village pay for his company to do the remaining third.

"It really is a jewel in the village. We have the opportunity at very low cost to improve it," he told the village board's parks and recreation committee this month.

He noted the work to correct problems and restore the wall would be very labor-intensive.

"I've never seen anything like that anywhere else," he said of the wall construction. Over time, water seeping through has damaged and broken the stones, which are far from the more uniform type used in modern construction. The committee recommended paying $7,950 as the village's portion.

"It's going to be an asset. It makes a lot of sense," Trustee Pete Garrity said. "Financially, it's a great return for the village."

The heavy duty work being done by Clark and volunteers on Saturdays includes: removing the irregularly shaped stones one by one; chiseling off mortar on the first five courses; regrading the bank area behind the wall; trenching an area about two-feet wide and 14 inches deep for a new crushed limestone base; cleaning the stones with an acid solution to refresh the original color; and, removing and replacing plants.

"We're doing it right, but again, nobody builds these walls anymore," Graham said.

The wall is across Lake Street from the Butler Warming House, named for Lawrence Crawford, a teacher and coach at Libertyville High School from 1925 to 1949. Crawford served many years on the village's recreation committee.

Crawford was named Libertyville's Man of the Year in 1955 and remarkably, was Liermann's father's typing teacher.

According to old news reports, Crawford in 1958 noticed the area was "infested with cattails and horse weeds" and decided to create the garden. The village supplied fill, the Men's Garden Club of Libertyville donated 1,600 tulips and the garden became a reality.

But how did the wall come to be there?

Butler Lake was created from a swampy area and the park was built beginning in December 1937. The land was donated and the funding provided by a federal contribution through the Works Progress Administration of nearly $190,000 and a local share of about $67,000.

The wall appears to have been built as part of the overall park amenities, but the designated garden area apparently was never developed until years later.

A sunken garden is shown on the original architectural rendering.

A May 31, 1940, newspaper story was topped by the headline: "Sunken Garden Ready for Sod." An accompanying photo shows the wall in place.

"It's one of those things you drive by all the time. I never knew the history of it. I took it for granted," Graham said.

The work has gotten a lot of attention from passers-by. Graham told Liermann the wall will look like new after it's restored and powerwashed.

"Your mom is smiling down," he told her.