By Staff
Recently I had the privilege of looking at a couple of old Dowagiac books that a friend loaned me.
They were two that I had never seen.
One was probably 1936, as close as we could figure.
Neither book had any date as to when it was published.
The way we came up with it was a 1936 book was one of the many ads for the Redner grocery said serving you 1904-1936.
This book was orange and black and was called "Tourist Guide of Dowagiac, Michigan – 107 Lakes – 2,500 Cottages – 75 Hotels – the Playground of Southern Michigan."
"Stop at the Indian tepee in the park for information."
I remember the tepee in Michigan Central Railroad Park.
It was about where Twistee's is now.
The tepee that was in MCRR Park was made of bark by Michigan Indians.
The sidewalk from Front Street over to the depot had a black iron fence along the walkway, as I recall.
The picture of the tepee on the back of the book looked real. Over the entrance to it was a sign, Tourist Information Bureau.
It had an old metal park bench in front. At the bottom of the back of the book was "For Further Information Write Dowagiac Business Men's Association, Dowagiac, Michigan."
This had to be before we had a Chamber of Commerce.
Some of the resorts listed in the ads were Shady Shores, Dewey Lake, Paul's Sister Lakes, Gregory Beach Magician Lake, Dehhardt's Lodge Dewey Lake, Never Mind Hotel Indian Lake, Happyland Magician Lake, The Bird's Nest Hotel Indian Lake, Maplewood Resort Sister Lakes, Gould's Resort Sister Lakes Lewis Farm Resort Sister Lakes, Sandy Beach Resort Dewey Lake, Manhattan Hotel Indian Lake, Jones Landing Dewey Lake, Oaklands Resort Magician Lake and R.C. Gilmore Cottages Magician Lake.
I found that my old neighbor at 405 Orchard St. in 1930, Earl Anthony, who was our milkman, also specialized in raising iris flowers.
He had more than 200 rare varieties and had produced several new ones. He hybridizes his blooms to get new ones.
In this book it told that Frank Stahl, 305 West St., also raised irises, plus he had several acres of peonies on his farm.
Out on the north shore of Dewey Lake M.M. Towle had a dahlia farm.
I remember seeing the beautiful flowers as you drove along the lake, and I'm sure a lot of folks remember it also.
The book mentions Stewart's Nursery, which was the beautiful Rudy Furnace Garden on Louise Avenue.
Another one mentioned was Dirk Rynsburger's bulb farm west of Dowagiac and had acres of yellow daffodils.
I also remember this.
Things of interest: Barber's Cut-Rate drug store had a lending library.
Dailey once had a main street lined with stores, a few dwellings and a church.
I think at one time there was a train station there also.
The book stated that Cass County has 217 lakes, with 103 listed in Dowagiac's City Directory.
On just six lakes, Dewey, Cable, Magician, Round, Crooked and Indian, there were a total of 946 cottages.
This little book was full of information on Dowagiac and the surrounding area.
I really found it very interesting and want to thank the friend who lent it to me.