Historical background from documented sources, followed by the incident record from the Waukegan newspaper archive. Sources are noted. The Corrections page logs changes to earlier versions.
Before 1832
The Potawatomi people lived in this area. After the Black Hawk War concluded in 1832, the territory was opened to settlement.
1842
William Gray bought land in the area, including part of the south shore of the lake that would bear his name. He eventually left; the village history notes this without further explanation, and subsequent records show him living in Waukegan. The lake and later the town kept his name.
1862
Bridget Connell was farming the Avon Township parcel by at least this date, based on the newspaper item I found in the Waukegan archive. She had been there more than twenty years by the time of the 1884 removal.
1884
Wisconsin Central Railroad survey of the Avon Township right-of-way, including the Connell parcel. Connell refused three purchase offers. The railroad took the parcel by condemnation; the Lake County Sheriff carried out the removal in August 1884. Three days later, Foote's crew was back on the parcel. His journal for that period is the core document in this research.
1886
Wisconsin Central Railroad station completed in Grayslake. Grayslake platted as a subdivision. Fourth-class post office established. (GHS, Village history)
May 9, 1895
Grayslake incorporated as a village. (Village history)
1899
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad added a line through Grayslake. (GHS) This is a separate railroad on a different alignment -- it served the downtown station, not the Wisconsin Central / Soo Line / NCS corridor I've been researching.
1965
Soo Line passenger service ended on this corridor. (GHS) Freight and maintenance traffic continued; scheduled passenger service did not resume until Metra.
August 19, 1996
Metra NCS passenger service began on this corridor. (GHS)
2004
Rollins Savanna forest preserve restoration completed. (Lake County Forest Preserves) The 1,253-acre preserve borders the NCS corridor; the main entrance is on Washington Street at Atkinson Road.
2006
Washington Street station opened. (GHS)
This is what I've found in the Waukegan newspaper archive, not a comprehensive accident record. The microfilm for the 1880s-1920s is incomplete and in variable condition. I've been conservative about what I claim to have confirmed.
Early 1960s
Soo Line emergency stop, crew unable to explain
Source: Waukegan News-Sun, partial reference, approximate date
A brief item in the News-Sun, sometime in the early 1960s, about a Soo Line crew stopping a train near Grayslake because of something observed on the tracks. The tracks were inspected; nothing was found. The crew's account was noted without further detail.
I can't confirm this was on the specific section I've been tracking. I've included it because a crew stopping for a reason they couldn't explain afterward is a different kind of entry from a grade crossing accident -- and because it's consistent with a pattern I think I see, even if the pattern is thin.
December 21, 1935
Joseph Juknevicz/Yukas: documented death, different railroad
Source: Chicago Tribune 12/22/1935; Waukegan News-Sun 12/23/1935; Milwaukee Road (CM&StP&P), private farm crossing
A farm laborer named Joseph Yukas was killed when a horse-drawn wagon he was driving was struck by a train at a private crossing on the Frank Martinez farm near Grayslake. The railroad was the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific -- the Milwaukee Road -- not the Wisconsin Central / Soo Line / NCS corridor. The three papers I found place the farm variously as Grayslake, Hainesville, and Avon Township.
I've included this because it's a documented death in this general area and I want to be clear it has nothing to do with what I've been tracking. The Milwaukee Road ran through downtown Grayslake on a different alignment. Yukas's death is a farming accident on a private crossing. He is buried at Fort Hill Cemetery in Avon Township.