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Location 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
420 S. Pine – Axel Lonnquist model home
This house was constructed in 1926 in the Cotswold Cottage style that was popular in American during the 1920s and 1930s. This house was built as a model home for Axel Lonnquist’s development. The coziness and pastoral ideals associated with the Cotswold style fit well with Lonnquist’s plans for a “model garden city suburb” in Mount Prospect.
The first resident of this
house was Bert Terpning, who was known as Ben because he hoped to be associated
with the famous silent movie star of the period, Ben Terpning. Ben was the
general superintendent of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway and a big
supporter of the growth of Mount Prospect. He served as president of the Mount
Prospect Improvement Association, so it is fitting that he would live in the
model home for Mount Prospect’s biggest improvement of the period.
At the time this house
was built, Mount Prospect was receiving a lot of recognition because of the
plans that were devised by Lonnquist associated with this house and the
surrounding land. The town had adopted the slogan of “The City of Progress” in
the
1920s and many town leaders felt that Lonnquist’s plan to create a “home city”
for families to live and own land was the way to progress into the future.
These ideals would come to shape Mount Prospect in the future and allow it to
become a place for families today.