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The collection consists of records of the Lake Forest Water Company when it was founded in 1891, the papers of its subsidiaries through 1921, and when it became the City of Lake Forest's Water Works unit in 1921 to 1938, with some records as late as 1955.

The records include a very detailed ledger book listing early estates, indicating the scale of listings of equipment/outlets, and it also lists owners, locations, and changes of ownership in that period. Other major materials in the collection include studies carried out for the city of of Lake Forest by the Chicago-based engineering firm of Pearse, Greeley & Hansen, local correspondence, records, and documents for the city department in the 1920s-1930s, and in one case in 1955.

The collection additionally shows the relationships with state and federal authorities, including the WPA and relates the general growing need for water from the lake by the increasing number of estates and North Shore suburbs.