Writer and Minnesota Public Radio essayist Peter Smith, who moved to Libertyville when he was four from Chicago’s south side, recently released his new book A Cavalcade of Lesser Horrors, where he depicts his life’s “hiccups” including glimpses of Libertyville’s mid-twentieth century mainstreet.

“Libertyville back then was such a wonderful place because it was still a small farm town in a lot of ways, and it hadn’t disappeared into the megalopolis if you will,” Smith said. “It was a commuter community and it was a farm town, so it was this wonderful hybrid of all of these things.”