Old cars capture our imagination. We harken back to a simpler more refined era. But was it? The first cars required the owner to crank hard to get them to start. Many an arm fell victim to the crank. Without a windshield the riders shared their journey with insects and random birds. Winter presented new [...]
My grandfather once pointed out to me the location of McDowell’s Hill, a tall hill located approximately where the Chappell Clinic/One Vision building was at 217 7th Avenue North. This 1939 newspaper article reports that the Works Progress Administration partially leveled the area in the 1930s, and it was further leveled in 1939 to use as [...]
This weekend the popular Art in the Park will fill our park with beautiful, creative works of art waiting to be discovered by shoppers. This event has been a mainstay of the summer for many years. In early 1977, the Arts Council was organized. One of their first events was Art Sail held in 1978. [...]
Thanks to the local Historical Society, Clear Lake finally has its own history museum backed up by a history archives room at the public library (developed by H. Milton Duesenberg). These two resources are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to telling the full story. After reading just a sampling of their [...]
This weekend Clear Lake is holding another round of city wide garage sales. There will no doubt be some fantastic bargains to be found. In the late 1950’s and 1960’s Clear Lake merchants sponsored Ridiculous Days. And they were!! Competitions to be the most ridiculous were hard fought. Winners vowed to up their game from [...]
On days when sailboats race, our lake wears one her most picturesque faces. The first sailboat is believed to have launched before 1870. A craft named “Water Witch”, was built before the civil war for Mr Crowell. Many followed in a fleet operated by Oscar Stevens. A. H. (Lon) and D. H. Green were two [...]
Clear Lake knows how to celebrate the 4th of July with style! Our fireworks displays are top notch. They get bigger and better every year. One year in particular, a spectacular show was planned. In 1976, the county’s bicentennial of declaring our independence from England, the “largest and loudest” display so far was ready to [...]
Clear Lake’s long traditional 4th of July celebration began in 1856 and gets better every year. In 1913 J.H. Miller drove his miniature pony powered car down Main Street. The fire department’s first motorized truck made her debut in the 1917 parade. A car decked out in feathers and palm fronds glided through the streets [...]
Before electricity arrived in Clear Lake, homes and businesses had gas lighting. The gas came from burning coal in an oxygen deficient atmosphere, collecting the gas and “cracking” it (sending it through a water mist to increase luminosity), storing it in gas holders, then piping it out to customers. Clear Lake’s gas plant was located [...]
Oh to be a kid again! Those endless summer days with no obligations contained all sorts of possibilities. A favorite memory is grabbing a comic book and lemonade and escaping to the fort made by the branches of the weeping willow. Kid heaven! In 1955, that heaven was under siege. The American Legion was questioning [...]
