In 1911, the Hull House Association renamed it the Joseph T. Bowen Country Club and began using the property as a summer retreat.

In 1843, politician James Montgomery built a house on a 72 acres (29 ha) lot of land near present-day Waukegan, Illinois, then known as Little Fort.

Addams had previously rented land in Wisconsin and Michigan, but these campgrounds suffered from bad weather and a lack of maintenance.

A realtor provided Addams with a list of three hundred potential camp properties, so she went on a trip with fellow Hull House administrator Louise DeKoven Bowen to visit sixty-seven candidates.

Children were asked to pay a nominal fee to help maintain the property and to give them a sense of responsibility.

The council was dissolved four years later and the Waukegan Park District assumed full operation of the property.