What unites the Clark Lake community is the love of the lake. And, with this love comes an indefatigable interest in its history. On this website there are three sections that spotlight history–My Clark Lake Story (real life experiences of those at the lake),...
By Bill Leutz Thanks to Jim & Janet Seaman and Ruthann Cochran, I recently found myself with the opportunity to spend some time with Deland’s History of Jackson County, Michigan. This 1,123 page book by Colonel Charles L. Deland, published in 1903, is one of two...
By Bill Leutz In my last article, I mentioned Anson DeLameter, Edward DeLameter and Samuel Marsh as being the second group of settlers to arrive at Clark’s Lake. Today, I’ll take a look at that story, as well as the life of Anson Harry DeLamater. The DeLameter family...
When you read My Clark Story accounts on this website, you can see how deeply Clark Lake is embedded in our collective souls. The lake becomes part of life in a variety of ways. But this stands out: no matter how different the experience, Clark Lake’s icons...
The Clark Lake Lions Club distributed a map of Clark Lake around 1960. It included ads for many of the businesses that served Clark Lake. As you look this over, notice the phone numbers in the ads. Some of the Clark Lake numbers began with LA 9 (LAkeside 9). At the...
What the Clark Lake Players brought to the community is an important part of our history. First performing at the Pleasant View Pavilion, and later at Eagle Point, they drew audiences from far and wide. Fifty-one years ago the Clark Lake Players celebrated their...
The Pine Riders Water Ski Club was mostly known by the success of its members. Many names are still familiar at Clark Lake–Vermeulen, Curtis, Belcher, Krupa, Timberlake, King, and Broderick. These, and other Pine Riders, collected winning hardware from Clark...
The Cincinnati-Northern Railroad changed everything. It transformed Clark Lake from a rural outpost to resort destination. People from Cincinnati, Toledo and other points south elected to escape stifling summer heat and to enjoy the natural air conditioning of Clark...
By Bill Leutz Settlement during the early years of Michigan, and specifically Columbia Township, are fairly well known. The end of the War of 1812 opened the way for an early influx of settlers in the vicinity of Fort Detroit, and the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825...
It’s safe to say that Eagle Point has generated thousands of memories for those who visited it or lived around it. Many of those memories occurred during the years that Rollo Every owned and operated a resort on Eagle Point that offered a hotel, restaurant,...
By Dick Hitt and Walt Reed The following story of early life at Clark Lake was written by Gordon Hitt in 1968. Gordon was the father of Richard “Dick” Hitt who contributed a lot of talent and effort to move the former Graziani cottage to its present position in the...
Like Eagle Point, Kentucky Point is a major chapter in the Clark Lake story. The original house at Kentucky Point, built by the Graziani family, was moved on the water from that location to the County Park at the east end of the lake in the 1990s. It was repurposed...
