more images from Deer Park Lodge

For your viewing pleasure, a few more images from Deer Park Lodge. Enjoy!



Memories of Deer Park Lodge with Rita Anderson

A short time ago, our head librarian, Janelle, conducted an interview with Rita Anderson about her time working at Deer Park Lodge as a teenager. We are pleased to share Rita's memories below.

Rita Anderson worked at Deer Park Lodge on Spider Lake as a summer employee from 1956-1960. At the time of her employment, Ben and Ruth Epstein were the owners.

Rita's very first job at Deer Park was cleaning cabins. She did that for two weeks before moving to a more enjoyable job as a lobby girl. Lobby girl duties included cleaning the lobby, bathrooms, bar room, and cocktail lounge.

Another job that Rita had was play school manager. Taking care of the kids was fun work. The children ate before the other guests so they had the dining room to themselves, giving the parents time to enjoy their lunches and dinners. After lunch, Rita had all afternoon off. At 5pm she returned to help the kids with dinner and stayed with them until 7pm.

In the evening, staff members had the option of babysitting if parents wanted to go out. The adults enjoyed going to a traveling orchestra. This orchestra visited one other resort, and a professional dancing couple gave dance lessons to the guests and put on an evening performance.

Rita also had a waitress job at Deer Park Lodge. Her wage was $60/month, plus room, board and tips. Waitresses would have the same families/tables to wait on each day for however long the family stayed. Each waitress had six tables and a bus boy was shared with another waitress. The kitchen staff had off every other Sunday afternoon.

Rita enjoyed working with the kitchen help. The main workers in the kitchen were the chef, first cook, fry cook and salad man. Rita remembers the salad man, John Now. He was very talented and would sculpt ice and food for the lodge's guests. But he was also sort of a mystery man - he never left the lodge.

Another worker Rita remembers as a mystery was the laundry man. Rumor had it that he had served time in Alcatraz, and he was a bit strange!

Rita really enjoyed the group she worked with, and many of them returned each summer. The kids could go to the rec hall for entertainment, and Mr. Epstein also gave them a lodge car o Sundays to go to church.

The girls/women lived in the upstairs of a large building on the property. It had one big room plus a separate bathroom with shower. The boys/men occupied the downstairs, where there were separate rooms.

Ben Epstein was a good boss. He was also very watchful of the lodge. At night he slept in a screened-in porch near the road so he could hear anyone coming or going. Before the lodge opened for the summer, Ben would open up for conventions, such as A.O. Smith and a doctors' group, to name two. Most of his guests were Jewish. Ben and Ruth Epstein had three children: two boys, Frank and Steve, and one girl, Marilyn. Rita, Frank and another friend, Susie, would go water skiing together on some afternoons. The five years at Deer Park Lodge were fun and memorable for Rita.

Images Frozen in Time: Little Bohemia

Dillinger's belongings

Clear Lake: Haskin's Cottages

Haskin's Cottages once stood on Clear Lake. Our file provides little information on them, although they were evidently run by Thomas Haskins, apparently an Ojibwe man, and perhaps also by the Devine family, who appear to have been related by the marriage of Kate Haskins to Dan Devine, if the photos below tell the right story.. Of this tangled tree, we have (at present) only this intriguing, if tragic, glimmer from an interview with Cal La Porte (February 2010):

Thomas Haskins was [a Native American] and owner of property.

Thomas and Dan Devine were out hunting one day. They met each other on Hwy. K and talked. Suddenly, from nowhere, a shot rang out from the distance and Dan dropped [to the ground]. He died of the gunshot wound.

No one found the killer, and the shooting was thought to have been done on purpose, because of jealousy. Dan was in his 40s.

Why would someone have been jealous of Dan Devine? Who was the murderer? How did Thomas Haskins react? Why and how did all of this happen?

These questions are lost to the murk of time... let your imaginations fill the void, until and unless further answers are forthcoming.

From left: Susan Perkins (Ken Perkin's mother), Mrs. Mockley (guest at Moody's), Mrs. Don (Kate) Devine, Mrs. Snow (Kate's cousin), Mr. John Perkins (laying on ground, Ken's dad), Tom Lynch (Kate Devine's second husband), Mr. Tom Devine (Dan's brother) -- North side of Clear Lake (Boulder Junction township)

Devine Family: From left, Tom Devine, Susan Perkins, Mr. Mockley, Mrs. Dan Devine (Kate), Mrs. Snow, Tom Lynch, John Perkins

Devine House, Clear Lake

According to a note on the photo's back, this is the second house of the Don Devine family, built not long after he died, 1901 or 1902 on the northern shore of Clear Lake (Boulder Junction township.)

Thought to be Paul Devine on left, other man unknown (Joe Ilg, Sr. picture taken after 1891)

How Manitowish Waters Became a Four-Season Vacation Area

The following article, excerpted here, appeared in the Vilas County New Review Centennial Issue (2/19/86):

an old ad for Voss's Birchwood Lodge

At one time, it was the logging industry here that kept Manitowish Waters booming, but the big logging activity ceased between 1911 (when the last Yawkey-Bissell activity ceased; that firm's last local camp was near Mud [Fawn] Lake) and 1914 (when the last logs had been shipped from the hoist at Star Lake).

In 1919 the Milwaukee Road removed its track along the north side of the chain; the spur to the C&NW was quietly taken up around the same time.

The lone sawmills to operate after that era in the area were operated by Bob Loveless, who cut timber in the few pockets of Virgin Forest during the 1920s, and Marvin Loveless, who ran a small mill into the 1940s or 1950s.

The resort business developed alongside the homesteading that brought the early settlers to this area. First to offer hospitality to sportsmen and other visitors in a lodge was Abe LaFave. In 1892, George Buck settled some land at the narrows between Spider and Manitowish Lakes, probably by homesteading it. He too developed a resort business, which stayed in the Buck family until it was sold in 1916 to the Koerners, who began operations under their name the next year.

What is now Deer Park Lodge was begun in the 1890s by one J.A. La Motte of Wausau; its succeeding owners included Jay A. "Dad" Paine, Max Engemann and Charlie Doriot. After spending several summers camping here, Henry Voss built his first cottage in 1909, and opened an American Plan resort in 1911.

By 1927, area residents were chafing at what they felt was neglect by the town of Flambeau, to which the present day Manitowish Waters then belonged, and they succeeded in having the state legislature pass a bill creating the new town of Spider Lake. The new town built a town hall during the next biennium and a modern school soon after. That school was outgrown and was enlarged twice before it was replaced in 1971 by a new, complete plant on Highway K that is a consolidation of the grade schools for several North Lakeland communities.

The town board also authorized a community cemetery in 1935, and the first burials date from 1936.

Koerner's Spider Lake Resort

The Thirties brought the town new distinctions. One was the distinction of having its own fish hatchery, said to be the only municipal hatchery in the state.

It was also in the early 1930s, 1934 to be exact, that desperado John Dillinger brought the area instant notoriety. Detected hiding out at Little Bohemia, he fled lawmen in a shootout that cost two lives.

Manitowish Waters was a more appropriate name for the chain of lakes area, and in 1937 the name of the town was changed from Spider Lake to Manitowish Waters.

Man with Gun: George Loveless

Some photos donated to the library hold memories of the Loveless family, who had a store, gas station and other buildings on Alder Lake.

"Virgin Forest Park, Manitowish, Wis."

This photo, taken in 1929, shows Robert Loveless (photo mis-identified) on his front porch, rifle in hand. A note on the back of the picture reads: Mrs. Ella Kossein(?) picture June 1929. Mr. Robert Loveless at his store, our new place on the road (then U.S. 10, later U.S. 51). Buildings built about 1920. Manitowish Waters, Wis.

Loveless Family, 1929

 This photo shows Robert with his daughters. The back reads, Mrs. Ella Kossein pictures 6/20/29. Manitowish Waters, Wis. From left Dolly, Ella and Mr. Robert Loveless at his store and gas station on old Hwy 10 (later U.S. 51).

Frank R. Koller

A full obituary in honor of Frank Koller:

Frank Raymond Koller was born July 28, 1921, in Chicago to Frank Koller and Rose Koller (Reiger). He died May 15, 2011, in Marshfield after a brief illness.

He is survived by his wife, Betty Jane (Leasure) Koller; nieces Lenore (Smith) Dollries, Cynthia Burns, Barbara (Burns) Weingarden; and grand-niece Alison Weingarden.

Frank and Betty had one son, Frank Berkley Koller, who passed Nov. 6, 1978. Frank also survived by two sisters, Rose Smith and Rae Meyer.

Frank and Betty met in grade school in Chicago and both graduated from Hirsh High School in 1941.

Frank joined the Navy on Sept. 19, 1942. Betty followed him to California where they eloped on Aug. 21, 1943, before he set off for the South Pacific. Frank was a radio operator during the war and was honorably discharged in 1945.

After his discharge, Frank worked with Betty's family on the cranberry marshes in the Rapids where he got his interest in the cranberry business. In 1946, the Kollers moved up to Manitowish Waters to start their own cranberry business.

Of the five original growers in the area, Frank was the last survivor. In addition to the Manitowish Waters marsh, Frank had two other marshes at one time -- Fifield and Oneida.

Frank joined the Masons in 1955 and was ordained to the 33rd degree in 2010. Frank was also a Shriner and Lions Club member.

Frank was a charter member of the Manitowish Waters Community Church and the local fire department.

Frank was an avid car and antique collector and took great joy in giving tours of his collections. He also exhibited his cars in local parades.

He was an avid wildlife enthusiast from planting trees and feeding birds to taking in stray dogs.

Frank and Betty's philanthropy have been far reaching, including the building and maintenance of the Manitowish Waters Community Church Carillon and Tower and the Veteran's Memorial in Pine Lawn Cemetery and wholly providing for the Frank B. Koller Memorial Library in Manitowish Waters.

They started the Koller Behavior Center in Minocqua, and started scholarships at the University of Wisconsin for Cranberry Growing and Lakeland and Mercer high schools for vocational schools.

They purchased the land for the Manitowish Waters Town Park on Rest Lake and are supporters of the Masonic Learning Center for Dyslexia, the Rawhide Ranch and the Marshfield Clinic, Lawton Center and Laird Center. Their latest endeavor is a deferred donation to the Marshfield Clinic to complete the second Laird Center for research. When Frank saw a need, he pursued supporting that need.

Funeral services will be Saturday, May 21, 11 a.m., in the Manitowish Waters Community Presbyterian Church.

Visitation will be 9-11 a.m. at the church on Saturday.

Burial will follow at Pinelawn Cemetery with military honors.

A Masonic service will be held today, Friday, May 20, 6:30 p.m., at the Bolger Funeral Home-Woodruff Chapel.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Frank B. Koller Library in Manitowish Waters or charity of the donor's choice.

Bolger Funeral Home is assisting the family. Condolences may be shared at www.bolgerfuneral.com.

via The Lakeland Times