The following was sent in and written by: Carol Kinney, and her
daughter
Kelly Carpenter:
Hi, thanks for opening a web site to gather stories of
early Big Star Lake History. Our family was one
of the earliest to settle, enjoy and treasure this
"little slice of heaven." Six generations of this family have
continuously
occupied the property. Early photos documenting various activities are attached.
My great-grandfather, Herman Wahl, of Chicago, Illinois
purchased a special parcel of land, SIGHT
UNSEEN, through the Chicago Tribune newspaper in
1914. This included lakefront property as well
as a beautiful marsh and forest
land. Thereafter, he traveled to Big Star Lake each summer with his wife,
Bertha, and
their four children - Henry, Emma, Ella and Herman. In the beginning, they
took a train from
Chicago to Baldwin, then hired a team of horses and a wagon from Elmer
Smith of the Star Lake Hotel
to deliver them and their supplies to the lake
property. By 1917, they traveled by car on very rough dirt
and gravel roads to their
cottage, called Oak Rest. They had continuous company from an extended
family each summer and enjoyed swimming, boating, fishing, and berry-picking.
The property was sold to Emma's husband, William
Heideman, in 1922. They and their
three children, Adeline, William and Pearl continued to
spend summers there and eventually brought their
families. During the
1930's, William built the Field's Club on part of the property. It was a lodge
that
served as a "gentlemen's fishing and hunting club" for businessmen and
doctors from Akron, Ohio, where
he and Emma operated a restaurant and night club. In
addition to providing a summer haven for their nine
grandchildren, they gave free
weekly vacations to deserving newsboys from the Akron Beacon Journal
newspaper. William taught each child in his care to swim, catch bait, clean fish
and cut wood. He enjoyed
the lake so much he retired there in the late 1940's, and
built a permanent home. He was well-known
throughout Lake County as Santa
Claus. Both of his daughters, Adeline Rynn-Utter and Peal
Bromley-
Slater also
made permanent homes at the lake.
William also owned a business on the corner of
76th street
and M-37, known as "Star Sales House".
His daughter Adeline then took over and ran it for many years with her
husband Lake County Clerk Taft
Utter. Kelly Carpenter also adds: After my Grandma died we
had to sell the place. The people who
bought it tore the old building down, which was a load of history and
stories as well. The original owners
of that were in the old Vaudeville acts and had an upper balcony made
inside to put on performances, it
was quite a neat old log building.
Pictures by Henry Wahl
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