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 [...]
Ahh… the cooling waters of Clear Lake on a warm summer day! How do you swim? Some people like to relax and lounge, others go gangbusters and exercise without sweating. It must have been great fun to slide into the water on the toboggan sleds at the Bath House! Some of us will remember the [...]
A tornado hit Clear Lake on August 27, 1931. It first touched down in Bayside where one person was killed in the Rist Cottage. It damaged the Bayside amusement park and destroyed the roller coaster there. The tornado followed the lake shore north, ripping the porches off of the Outing Club and destroying the White [...]
As our seasonal Clear Lakers return to our charming lake town, one place will fill again with the sights and sounds of summer for the 130th year. The Outing Club, established in 1895, is thought to be Iowa’s first cooperative housing structure. Community based but independently owned, the cottages that form the club are linked [...]
How does your garden grow? With beets, carrots and onions all in a row? From early in the 1900’s to recently, Kennedy Farms in Clear Lake was Iowa’s largest vegetable grower. Sam Kennedy started the operation after realizing the value of the rich peat soil his land held. He worked hard and grew the business [...]
My grandfather, Roscoe Miller (1908-1991) told me the story of the last prairie fire in the area. He lived several miles north of Clear Lake (see 1875 map). His grandparents were named Dawson and they were one of the first settlers in this area. It was early spring in 1915 and they could see the [...]
