The Farman Hotel

    From the corner turn right and head down toward the lake. Just before the parking area entrance, on your right, was where Seth Paine’s home was, which later became Young’s Hotel. Across the street from it in this area was a huge building built by Seth Paine around 1853 called the “Stable of Humanity”. It measured  50 x 150 feet and had three stories and a basement. It contained a gathering hall, a dance floor, apartments to rent, and a post office. Until 1860, there was a select school there started by Seth Paine called Lake Zurich Academy. After 1860 a school district was formed for  the town area, and classes were held in the Stable of Humanity in a school room donated by Paine. This was the beginnings of our present School District 95. Seth Paine was an ardent abolitionist , and the Stable of Humanity was reportedly a stop on the Underground Railroad. 

      A few steps further and on your right, there used to be Farman’s Hotel, an old and very popular restaurant here in Lake Zurich. This place started out as a farm house built in the late 1880s by a German immigrant named Herman Helfer. After Helfer passed away, the place was purchased by Guy Farman in 1929, and for the next 54 years it was the Farman Hotel. It was a popular place to eat for locals and their guests, and also a favorite hangout for jockeys and horse trainers from Arlington Park. Farman's finally closed in 1983. Then other restaurants took over, among them the Yorkshire Inn,  Ocean Ranch and the American Smokehouse Barbeque. In 2004 the building was raised to make way for new townhouses. Walk on and cross Lakeview Place, then stop and push NEXT