Cary Residents Co-Author History Book

After about a year of hard work, the Cary and Fox River Grove: Images of America book is complete. However, the book has about 15 years worth of research.

Pamela Losey and Shirley Beene co-authored the book, which is about the history of Cary and Fox River Grove.

Losey, who operated a gift shop in 1996 at one of the historical buildings in Cary, said residents would come in and tell her stories about what had been inside the historic building. 

After about a year of operating the shop, Losey lost the lease to the building and decided to research the history of Cary and Fox River Grove.

Losey held a town hall meeting at the old Cary Fire Department for residents who might be interested in a resource to learn about the history of Cary and Fox River Grove.

"Sure enough, there was a lot of interest," Losey said of the residents wanting a resource to learn the history of the two towns.

Arcadia publishing came to Losey and Beene a couple of years ago, asking them to do a book on the history of Cary and Fox River Grove.

At first, Losey said they were really busy, but Arcadia asked again, and Losey and Beene decided to do the book.

Some of the stories within in the book include famous people visiting the area such as Bobby Kennedy and Al Capone. The book also has photos of John Hertz that are not printed in any other books, according to Beene.

Another story detailed in the book, is about the Northwood Fur Farm, which was the largest fur farm in the world. About 20,000 people would come out to Cary for their fashion shows, according to Losey.

Losey added, “We’re always discovering something new about this town, somebody has donated an artifact or somebody is showing us an historical image and it’s exciting.”

The book has many photos that either were donated or researched by Losey and Beene.

“It’s fun to look at, too, because you now see a lot of buildings that are still standing today in Cary and Fox River Grove, but now they're other businesses. So it’s neat to see what it was and what it is today,” Losey said.

Beene said this book is for older and newer residents as well.

"The Essence of when it was just a river and people came out from Chicago and started having their little cottages and how it grew from there and that kind of tells it," Beene said of what readers will gain from reading the book.

To purchase Cary and Fox River Grove: Images of America, contact the , head to to pick up your copy, or it order online. 

All of the proceeds will go to the Cary-Grove Historical Society.