Chain O' Lakes

The Chain O’ Lakes region has been one of Chicago’s premier vacation spots since the 1880s. The nine major lake basins—Catherine, Channel, Grass, Bluff, Marie, Fox, Nippersink, Petite, and Pistakee—are all connected by the Fox River waterway and have for over 100 years been northern Illinois’s leading destination for inland boaters, fishermen, picnickers, or those just hoping to relax and play at the beach. Luxurious mansions and swank resorts once dotted the more than 6,000 acres of shoreline. Many are gone today; some remain but have been vastly changed, but none are forgotten. Captured here in over 200 vintage postcards are scenes from the chain’s heyday, scenes that will seem at once faraway and familiar to the water-skiers, windsurfers, and other outdoor recreationists who populate the Chain O’ Lakes today.