The History Behind Libertyville's 'Devil's Gate'
LIBERTYVILLE, IL — If you’ve lived in Libertyville at some point over the past 40 years, you may have heard of “The Gate” or “Devil’s Gate.”
As legend has it, and that legend definitely varies depending on who is telling it, someone — either a camp counselor at a summer camp, a principal at a girl’s finishing school or a ward attendant at an asylum — went crazy and killed four people on the property behind a stone gate along North River Road.
While local historians say there is no evidence of a mass killing ever occurring on the property, there was a “home for children” on the property from 1925 to 1936.
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The Katherine Kreigh Budd Memorial Home for Children, which served as a summer camp for orphans from St. Mary’s Orphanage in Chicago, was located on 200 acres along the Des Plaines River — and includes a portion of what is now the Independence Grove Forest Preserve. The camp had housing for 165 children and there was also a swimming pool, playground and outdoor chapel, according to a 2012 presentation by the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society.
In the late 1930s, the property served as an annual retreat location for Episcopal clergymen and was leased to Boy Scouts of America for a few years. The Catholic Youth Organization purchased the land in 1939, and over the next 40 years, it served as a summer camp.
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In 1982, the Lake County Forest Preserve purchased the main part of the camp land and all the buildings were torn down. But while much of the property’s structures were razed, the gate still stands.
The tale of the gate likely originated at some point in the mid-1980s, Jenny Barry, local history librarian for the Cook Memorial Public Library District, told Patch during an interview in 2020.
“The Forest Preserve had demolished the buildings and what remained was the big stone gate on a drive that leads to nowhere and a few other remnants such as fire hydrants that can be seen off the bike path today,” she said.
Among the most popular tales told around campfires and whispered among children around this time of year include that of a principal who had a mental breakdown at a girl’s finishing school, St. Francis School For Girls, in the early 1950s. He killed four students and then put their heads on the metal posts of “The Gate,” according to the historical society presentation.
Other stories include the gate once serving as an entrance to a summer camp where a camp counselor OR a mad man who escaped from an asylum OR a nun killed four children while in bed, Barry said. Lastly, some have said that gate was an entrance to an asylum where a ward attendant went insane and killed four patients.
“I have found no evidence that any of the variations on the legend are true in regard to the killings,” Barry said.
For those telling and retelling the urban legend surrounding the school, the tale goes on: the killer was caught and, presumably, imprisoned or executed, but the trauma shattered the school and it closed. But the building stood empty for years in the clearing beyond the trees, according to a 2012 presentation on The Gate by the local historical society.
After talk of the school being haunted and an overall sense from the community that the sight of the old building was too unbearable, a movement started to tear it down and turn the area into a nature preserve.
According to the legend, this push for the preserve was a great success. And soon, it seemed, all traces of St. Francis School for Girls were gone from the site.
As some tales told about Devil’s Gate go, the new preserve was called Independence Grove as a tribute to the survivors who, once the school was destroyed, were free from the reminders of the mass killing. In reality, though, Barry said the preserve is called Independence Grove because that was an early name used in place of Libertyville.
And, the area where the gate is called St. Francis Woods and is just north of Independence Grove, Barry said.
Over the years, many scary sightings — or legends of scary sightings — have been reported in the area of the gate and on the property, which is located at a bend along North River Road and west of Trenton Road. Some have said they’ve seen blood dripping from iron posts, a headless nun roaming the woods, the ghost of a small boy spotted staring out from behind the iron posts and other apparitions, according to past presentations from the Libertyville-Mundelein Historical Society regarding The Gate.
Those living in homes near the gate say they’ve heard eerie screams and mysterious sounds, or spotted figures wearing 1930s-era clothing either in their homes or in nearby farm fields.
Among the spookiest of tales comes from those who say on midnight on Halloween, which is rumored to be the anniversary of the murders, phantom heads appear on the fence posts.
As legend has it, curious teens have been seen decapitated children’s heads on the gates posts after shining a flashlight on it at night. Barry said there have also been pumpkins thrown over the gate and reports of trespassing on the forest preserve property at night.
Of course, all the spooky tales shared regarding sightings on the property could also just be stories told and retold and switched up year after year. But the timing of when the story originated does seem to be clear — and if the mass killing happened in the 1950s, as some claim, Libertyville residents didn’t start sharing stories of The Gate until 30 years later.
“People who grew up in Libertyville prior to that time (1980s) have never heard the legend and are very familiar with the camp that was there,” Barry said. “Yet, I heard the story when I was in high school in the mid-1980s.”
She added there are even legends as to how the urban legend started.
“I have heard that a high school teacher started the rumor as a social experiment to see how urban legends spread, but that might also be an urban legend,” she said.
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The above story was originally published on Libertyville Patch in October 2020.
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