Seven years later, Kennicott moved with his wife and two sons to Northfield Township, Cook County, Illinois, an area that was almost completely undeveloped.

He made a claim of several hundred acres 15 miles (24 km) south of Half Day between Lake Michigan and the Des Plaines River.

After co-founding the Illinois State Agricultural Society, Kennicott began to provide nurserymen with free scions from varieties grown at The Grove.

Too sickly to attend public school, Kennicott was educated at The Grove and spent much of his youth outside on the property.

While on the Western Union Telegraph Expedition in Russian America in 1866, Kennicott died of heart failure.

[3] In 1973, a real estate group attempted to purchase a portion of The Grove's lands for a residential development project.

The prompted the formation of the Save The Grove Committee, who attempted to have the site recognized by the National Park Service (NPS).

Zenith made a 6-acre (2.4 ha) donation of land to Glenview in July 1974, including the main house.

New buildings were added to the campus to improve the educational value: an interpretive nature center was built in 1989 and a replica Potawatomie loghouse opened in 1997.

The most recent addition was a fireproof and waterproof archives building to store family papers and artifacts.