Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

Ferry Hall Dances and Social Life

Making It Home

Dance, 1948.

Marsh Mallow toasting party, 1890. Courtesy Lake Forest Academy Archives.

Dance, 1915. Courtesy Lake Forest Academy Archives.

Lake Forest Academy boy talks to girls at Ferry Hall, Bo Jack Parade, 1919. Courtesy Lake Forest Academy Archives.

Lake Forest Academy boys at Ferry Hall for Calling Day, 1960. Courtesy Lake Forest Academy Archives.

Whether they were dressed to the nines for a school dance, or relaxing at a beach picnic, Ferry Hall students enjoyed socializing in a variety of ways. Impromptu gatherings of classmates in dorm rooms, lounges, and around campus were part of daily life at Ferry Hall, in addition to organized special events.

In the 1800s, social gatherings were highly structured—and interactions between Ferry Hall girls and Academy boys were carefully monitored. Dances were usually quite formal, beginning with written invitations and including dance cards at the event itself.

As the years went on, traditions emerged which allowed for less formal socialization. During the early decades of the 1900s, new Academy boys (called “Bo-Jacks”) were dressed up in costumes and paraded over to Ferry Hall to meet the girls—a tradition that eventually evolved into “Calling Day” when Ferry Hall would host the boys from LFA for a day of fun activities and a “sock-hop” style mixer.

In later eras casual get-togethers became more common, especially with the advent of co-ordinated education between LFA and Ferry Hall in the early 1970s.