Built in 1926 (Colonial Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
“The John Griffith Store Building is an American historic commercial building at 103-113 E. Scranton Avenue in Lake Bluff, Illinois.”
Wikipedia article John Griffith Store Building, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 98 National Register listings published here for Lake County · listed in 2003 · category: Building · built in 1926, Colonial Revival architecture.
Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
The chapter on Shields Township in The Past and Present of Lake County, Illinois, published 1877 names Lake Bluff. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
Lake Bluff, otherwise known as the Lake Bluff Camp Meeting enterprise, is situated in this township, on Lake Michigan, a short distance north of Lake Forest, east of Rockland Station, on the Northwestern Railroad. A plat of this place was laid out and completed February 24, 1877.
Passage source: The Past and Present of Lake County, Illinois, published 1877.
Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.
Read the whole chapter on Shields Township - 4,524 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of John Griffith Store Building between 2017 and 2020, burning about 42 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 June 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 60118 |
| 8 May 2018 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-1522 |
| 9 April 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 19-971 |
| 30 April 2018 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 18-1413 |
| 4 December 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1.0 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 17-3964 |
| 15 December 2020 | Debris and open burning | 23 acres | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2020-2498 |
| 4 November 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Illinois Division of Forestry Resources | 2020-2239 |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of John Griffith Store Building: 1 producer, 1 plant. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Tungsten, Iodine. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abbotts North Chicago Iodine Plant | Iodine | Plant | ||
| Fansteel #1 Tantalum Plant | Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Tungsten | Producer |
Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Bluff, the town this property stands in, in 5 storm reports between 2003 and 2022: 2 flood, 1 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2007 | Flash Flood | Lake Bluff | $10,000 | Up to 4 inches of rain fell in a short time in the early morning hours. Some low lying roads had more than 2 feet of standing water. US41 near the Route 176 viaduct was closed due to flooding. One man had to be rescued from his vehicle. Route 176 was also closed at Sheridan Road due to flooding and buckling of pavement. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Lake Bluff | - | A photo was shared of a tree that was blown down onto a car in Lake Bluff. |
| July 2007 | Flood | Lake Bluff | - | Two feet of standing water at Route 41 and Route 176. |
| July 2006 | Flood | Lake Bluff | - | Road closed at 14 Skokie Valley Road because of high water. |
| July 2003 | Hail | Lake Bluff | - | no account filed |
No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.
Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.
| Photograph | Property | Distance | Listed |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Lake Bluff Uptown Commercial Historic District | 0.1 miles | 2006 |
 | William McCormick Blair Estate | 0.7 miles | 2008 |
 | Mrs. C. Morse Ely House | 0.9 miles | 2000 |
 | Lester Armour House | 0.9 miles | 1984 |
| Howard and Lucy Linn House | 1.3 miles | 2005 | |
 | Lake Forest Cemetery | 1.4 miles | 2001 |
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 02001755 in Record Group 79. |
| Wikipedia article | Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA. |
| Lake County | All 98 listed properties in this county. |
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