Historian Shares Vintage Barrington Postcards in New Book

A former president of the  has published a book with more than 200 images of Barrington’s yesteryears.

“I’ve collected all these postcards over the years and I wanted to share my collection with residents of the community,” said Ken Munson, author or Barrington, from Arcadia Publishing.

Munson said he hopes the photos provide current generations with an insight into Barrington’s early history and assist in preserving these images for future generations.

The 128-page book offers photographs and postcards of architecturally and historically significant buildings, churches and homes, downtown scenes, and railroad photos. Munson has a special interest in the railroads — his grandfather worked for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.

Many of the postcards originally were created by photographer George Froelich Jr. of Barrington.

“George Froelich Jr. was instrumental in saving the early history of Barrington. He would go with his camera and photograph local scenes at the turn of the century. He would sell them to local stores in town,” Munson said.

Munson built his collection of postcards by buying them from local residents or at antique shows. He has a special interest in Froelich Jr.’s work, since Munson knew the photographer through his work as a local historian.

Munson’s mother, Ruth, was a Barrington historian as well. Ken Munson served as  president of the in the 1970s. He is also a former curator of the Lake County Museum.

Munson moved to Wyandotte, Mich., in 1977, where he continued to work as a historian. He was the first director of the Henry Ford Estate and taught in the graduate historic preservation program at Eastern Michigan University.

Although he hasn’t lived in Barrington for a while, Munson said he still visits often as he has many relatives living here. Munson is planning a visit to Barrington in the near future and is lining up book-signing events at Barnes & Noble in Deer Park and at the 

Barrington, part of the Postcard History Series, by Ken Munson is available locally at Barnes & Noble in Deer Park,  in Lake Zurich and Barrington, and  in Barrington. It is available online through Arcadia Publishing.