Local Legends Honoring Ellen Stirling

Description

Fashion Entrepreneur Ellen Stirling Named Historical Society’s 2016 Local Legend
 
The Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society has announced that fashion luminary Ellen Stirling has been selected as their 2016 Local Legend.  Ellen Stirling's heritage runs deep with women entrepreneurs. In 1922, Ellen's grandmother, Margaret Baxter Foster, started the Sports Shop in Market Square. The idea of women's sportswear was revolutionary and the concept of shopping was transforming commerce. The Lake Forest Shop has remained in Ellen's family for almost a century. “We dress women of any age from morning through the end of the after party,” says Ms. Stirling. Ellen is the third generation of women in her family to bring style and business acumen to Lake Forest.
 
Ms. Stirling will be honored at the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Historical Society’s Local Legends event on Sunday October 23, 2016.  The event takes place at 4:00 pm at Lake Forest Academy, Cressey Auditorium, 1500 West Kennedy Road, Lake Forest.  Tickets to the event are $50 and can be purchased at www.lflbhistory.org or by calling the Historical Society at 847-234-5253. After the interview, there will be a light reception for guests and the honoree.
 
Ellen Stirling will be interviewed by TV journalist, and friend, Mary Ann Childers, one of the most recognized and respected voices in Chicago broadcasting.  As an anchor and reporter at ABC & CBS-owned stations she reported virtually every major story in the region for more than 20 years. A 5-time Emmy winner, she has written and produced thousands of hours of news and programming.
 
Ellen Stirling will be interviewed by TV journalist, and friend, Mary Ann Childers.  Their captivating conversation will reveal how Ms. Stirling’s business has evolved to remain competitive and will include personal anecdotes interweaving history and community.  Mary Ann Childers is a former anchor with Chicago’s WBBM-TV and WLS-TV where she became the first woman to anchor a top-rated 10 pm newscast in the city.
 
Ellen Stirling is a member of the Women’s Board of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, founder and past vice-president of the Auxiliary Board of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a member of the Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum.  She is a founding director of Lake Forest Bank and Trust and was chairman of the Bank’s Business Development Committee from 1991 to 2011.  She is also a member of the Lake Forest Garden Club and a former Board member of Lake Forest Open Lands and the Elawa Farm Foundation. 
 
 
About Local Legends
 
Local Legends is a celebration of our community’s superstars.  The Historical Society’s Local Legends signature event debuted in 2010 with a standing-room-only program honoring astronaut James Lovell that transported the audience to worlds afar. Now in its seventh year, the annual fundraiser supports educational programs and exhibits for people to explore, exchange and record stories about the community.
 
 
Lake Forest Shop, Anchor of Market Square
 
The iconic Lake Forest Shop was recently celebrated in the Historical Society’s exhibit “Market Squared: Ten Decades of Business and Beauty,” which featured panels located in each Market Square shop window and at the East Lake Forest Train Station.
 
The exhibit celebrated the 100^th anniversary of Market Square, which first opened to shoppers in April, 1916. Architect Howard Van Doren Shaw’s design heralded a new era in town planning: as the nation’s first artfully designed shopping center, Market Square linked pedestrian, automobile, and train in a beautiful retail complex.  The Lake Forest Shop links the past to the present as one of the oldest existing establishments in Market Square
 
While the outdoor exhibit is closed, the panels can still be viewed online at www.lflbhistory.org.
 
 
 
 
 
.