Lake Forest -- Greensward of Market Square, The

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Market Square was the first planned shopping center in the United States. Completed in 1916, the square and its surroundings were showing their age by the late 1990s, when a collaborative restoration project of the "green" in the center of the square was undertaken by the Lake Forest Garden Club, the city, and concerned citizens. The club had played an active role in Market Square landscaping improvements over the years; the current project was given its initial impetus by the club, but was soon transformed into a separate Market Square 2000 project with wide public and city support. With design work by Rodney Robinson Landscape Architects of Delaware, the project was completed in 2000. Features include a flagpole and fountain, sculpture, and various elements of hardscaping, such as brick walkways. On the north and south sides of the square's lawn are fire maples with an underplanting of hydrangea, viburnum, boxwood, and groundcover. West of the flagpole is a rose garden surrounded by an arch of yews, while two European hornbeams are situated in the corners of the rose bed. A low hedge of Alpine Currant (Ribes alpinum) outlines the north and south perimeters of the park.

Persons and firms associated with the garden include Rodney Robinson Landscape Architects (landscape architects, 1996-2000) and Howard Van Doren Shaw (architect, 1913-1917).