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The Hotel, which
is no longer in existence, had an interesting past with various owners.
The first owners from what I have found were Elmer G. and Mary E.
Smith whom I located in the 1910
Census of Lake Township, Lake County, Michigan. Elmer is listed
as “Landlord” of “Hotel”.
Living with them is Elmer’s Mother in Law with the last
name of Shively(spelling?), I can not make out the spelling of the first
name. The 1900 and 1890
Census no longer exist for Michigan so I could not go back further in
time. However going forward
in time we have the 1920
Census, also of Lake Twp., Lake Co., MI. No
one is living with Elmer and Mary at that time, and their names are
listed as “Keeper – Summer Resort”. Census
of 1930 Elmer G. Smith is “Resort Keep – Summer Resort”
and Mary E. Smith. Henry
Shively(sp?), Elmer’s Brother in law was living with them, and listed
as a “laborer – Road Construction”.
Wayne
and Peg McKinney, who also owned
Canterbury
Park
,
and the land and cottages that extended to the south of the hotel, were
the next owners. In the fall
of 1955 The hotel was then purchased by Stanley & Mary Czuchna. More
stories, and also one about Al Capone as a regular guest at the Hotel,
you can find on http://www.bigstarlakehistory.com/Hotel.htm
as told to me by John L. Barnum, Jerry Czuchna, and Kevin Blanchard.
~Luann
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