Vernon Hills, IL

Vernon Hills, Il is a village in Lake County.  Its population is 24,000 with a median income of $83,400 and median age of 34.  Vernon Hills serves as a retail hub for the surrounding area.  The land that would become Vernon Hills was founded in 1851 by Richard Theodore Freese, Ron Freese and Jim Carswell to become a 200 acre farm.  It stayed farm land for about 100 years when part of the land was sold to build a residential community and golf course. The community was named Vernon Hills and in 1958  it was incorporated and used the name, Vernon Hills, for the village name.  It was a slow growing village until 1971 when a portion of land was used to built Hawthorne Center, now called Westfield Hawthorne.  Hawthorne was one of the first indoor malls in the area.  In the 1980s and 90s Vernon Hills grew into the community it is now through retail, corporate and commercial properties. 
Hawthorne Mall is about 45 minutes from Glenview and as a kid it would be a special day for us when my Mom would take us to Hawthorne.  We did not do it that often so we loved going when we could.  The malls around Glenview at the time were outdoor malls so going to mall was not always fun especially when it would rain or in the winter.  We went to Vernon Hills yesterday to do some shopping.  I am going to my niece's house for a BBQ today and wanted to get my grand nephew a little gift.  Of course, I had to go to Toys R Us to buy it. We then headed over to Hawthorne Mall.
It was good to walk around Hawthorne Mall, it was renovated a few years back, and even though the stores are different is still brought back the fun memories of shopping there as a kid.