Sentimental Sunday: Diarymen's Country Club History

After posting a few weeks ago with a photo of my dad and his two older siblings at Dairymen's Country Club in Wisconsin, I decided to learn a little more about this place that has such good memories for my dad.

I found a book via WorldCat called The Story of Our Club: An Interpretive History of Dairymen's Country Club, Boulder Junction, Wisconsin, by Felix B. Streyckmans, published in Evanston, Illinois (my birthplace) by Schori Press in 1968. I requested it through interlibrary loan and the 79-page book arrived a couple weeks ago.

Dairymen's Country Club was established in 1925 near Boulder Junction in Vilas County in north-central Wisconsin, by a small group of Midwestern dairymen, primarily from Chicago and Milwaukee, with the purchase of the 1500-acre A. B. Dick estate on what was then known as Big Clear Crooked Lake (now known as Home Lake). The estate had nice woods with virgin timber, the big lake (with a beautiful white sandy beach and stocked with muskies and walleyes), cabins, a dining hall, boat house, barns, and other improvements, along with equipment such as farm implements, an automobile, boats and canoes, firefighting apparatus, and road machinery. The estate had originally been the Oliver Goff public resort that had opened in 1895, with the oldest cabin dating to 1892. Fifty members were able to use the facilities as they were in the summer of 1926.

A golf course was built in 1930. Additional major land purchases in 1937 and 1945 as well as some smaller purchases (in 1952 and 1963) brought the size of the club up to around 6000 acres in 1968. These acquisitions included complete control of six additional lakes and access to four others, as well as other resorts. Camp McKinley on the southern shore of Wolf Lake, just to the north (established in 1901 by the Oxley family), which at that time could accommodate 35 guests, was acquired in 1937, and the Mel Majors resort, also on Wolf Lake at Piney Point, was acquired in 1963.

Besides its lakes, fishing, and forests, Dairymen's is also known for Patsy, the pet deer (c. 1931-November 14, 1949), the longest-lived deer on record (in 1968), and the trio of rare albino deer that lived on the grounds in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Camp McKinley and its facilities eventually became known as Wolf Lake Lodge, while the original facilities were called Home Lake Lodge. In 1968, there were accommodations to lodge 100 people at Home Lake in 28 cabins and a dining hall that would seat that many, as well as a clubhouse, shuffle board, tennis courts, swimming beach, diving area, and boat landing. Wolf Lake had 12 cabins and a chalet that could accommodate 40, with a dining hall/clubhouse that could hold 50, while Piney Point had five housekeeping cabins. Besides typical summer activities, Dairymen's is used in the winter for cross-country skiing, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and snow shoeing.

On July 10, 2005, fire destroyed the Wolf Lake Lodge. A new 11,450 square-foot lodge was finished in June 2007. It's topped with a muskie weather vane pictured above (photo taken by Fabian A. M. on August 4, 2007, and used under a Creative Commons license).

Despite the name, Dairymen's has long included members beyond the dairy industry.   According to my Aunt Beete, my grandfather Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970) was the insurance representative for a Chicagoland dairy company and that's how he got to become a member. (Thanks cousin John for this information!)

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sibling Saturday: Found Photos, Dairymen's Country Club, Wisconsin, July 1951

I found these two photos when sorting through items belonging to my father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017) after his death late last year.  All he wrote on the back of the Kodacolor* prints, processed the week of July 20, 1951, was "DCC July 1951."  DCC stands for Dairymen's Country Club in Wisconsin, where my father and his family of origin spent many vacations from the mid 1930s at least into the early 1950s.  Dad had 15 days of leave from the Air Force from July 12-27, 1951, and went home to Evanston, Illinois, during that period - and it looks like he joined his family at Dairymen's during that time.  I know who the people are in the following two photos:

Above:  Paul Robert "Bob" Pape (1926-2008), Rose Mary "Moe" Pape Dietz (1931-2007), Frederick "Fred" Henry Pape, and Marilyn Electa "Beete" Pape Hedger.  This was before any of these four married.  Their sister Elizabeth "Betty" Mary Pape Streff (1927-2017) had married in 1948 and had three children by this point.

Below:  Bob and Fred with their mother, Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000).

*Because it is Kodacolor and it has been nearly 70 years since these photos were taken, the colors have faded to mostly shades of pink and dark green.


© Amanda Pape - 2018 - click here to e-mail me.

Sentimental Sunday: Dairymen's Country Club, Wisconsin, late 1930's

From left: Bob (1926-2008), Betty (born 1927), and Fred Pape (born 1929) at Dairymen's in Wisconsin, probably in the late 1930s. Dad remembers going here a lot as a kid, swimming and fishing.

© Amanda Pape - 2010

Sports Center Saturday: Fishing

Elizabeth Massmann Pape & Paul Robert Pape, Sept. 1952

My paternal grandfather, Paul Robert Pape (1896-1970), above right, loved to fish, so his family members got to fish, too.  He and his wife, my grandmother Elizabeth Florence Massmann Pape (1908-2000), even planned to fish on their honeymoon in Woodruff, Wisconsin, but, unfortunately, it rained hard the whole time, so they went back to Chicago early.

Above left is my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, at age 10 or 12, around 1939-1941, with the bass and pike he caught over several days at Big Lake, just west of Dairymen's Country Club in north central Wisconsin.


© Amanda Pape - 2013 - click here to e-mail me.

Dad Diving at "Norshore C.C." - 1940

I was looking for a picture of my dad, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017) to post on his upcoming birthday.  You really can't see him (on top of the diving board) in this 1940 photo very well,  but the image spurred me to do a little more research on "Norshore C. C."

I think Dad was referring to the North Shore Country Club (or North Shore Golf Club), which was originally located on Sheridan Road in Kenilworth, Illinois, around 1900.  Sheridan Road borders Lake Michigan in Kenilworth, hence the name North Shore.

By 1922, the club had moved to a 170 acre site west and inland near the suburb of Glenview.  The clubhouse (pictured below) was designed by architect Arthur G. Brown.

Above:  captioned "North Shore Golf Club, Glenview, Illinois; Arthur G. Brown, Architect; Federal Engineering Company, Plumbing and Heating Contractors."  From The American Architect. United States: Architectural and Building Press, 1925.  Volume 127, Number 2468, March 25, 1925, page 61.

  https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_American_Architect/vxTMIP6RsZQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=%22north%20shore%20golf%20club%22%20illinois

Below:  North Shore Golf Club Clubhouse, 1924.  Clip from https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104cm.g017901924A/?sp=77&st=image&clip=2718,621,2744,1778&ciw=1170&rot=0.  
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Sanborn Map Company, Vol. A, 1924. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01790_068/.  Page 90, Image 77, upper right quadrant.

Below is a July 1950 Sanborn map of the property.  Although the pool is not marked, I believe it was located between the two dressing room buildings in the upper right corner of the image.  That aligns with an aerial view of the property today.

Above:  North Shore Golf Club Clubhouse, July 1950.  Clip from https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4104cm.g017901950A/?sp=81&st=image&clip=2812,546,2806,1804&ciw=1154&rot=0.  Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. Sanborn Map Company, Vol. A, - July 1950, 1924. Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01790_133/.  Page 90, Image 81, upper right eighth.

Below:  Enlargement from the above map showing the location of the two dressing room buildings.  The pool was likely between them.

I'm not sure if my dad's family were members of this country club, or visiting with friends who were.  My grandfather Paul Pape was a member of the Dairymen's Country Club in Wisconsin, so it is certainly possible he was a member here.

© Amanda Pape - 2023 - e-mail me!

Sentimental Sunday: Fearless Female Elizabeth Massmann Pape, ABT March 1962

The photo at right is of my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth "Betty" Florence Massmann Pape (1902-2000).  On the back it is stamped "March 1962," so it was likely taken on or slightly before that date.  I recognize the location; it's their triplex townhome at 2547 Hastings in Evanston, Illinois, at the corner of Central Avenue and across the street from Bent Park, where they lived from 1956 to 1971.  Perhaps my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, took this photo on one of his business trips - maybe even one where he brought me along, as I remember flying with him to Chicago and visiting Nana and Grandpa when I was about the age when this photo was taken.

Elizabeth Florence Massmann was born on December 23, 1902, the second and last child of Frederick Henry Massmann (1875-1948) and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes (1876-1946)  The 1901 Chicago city directory shows the family living at 311 (2047 after 1909) Cuyler Avenue in Chicago, so she might have been born there.  She was baptized at the nearby St. Benedict Catholic Church on January 4, 1903. with her uncle George Hermann Massmann (1877-1963) as her godfather.

Elizabeth had one older brother, Alfred John Massmann (1901-1964).  She was listed as in school on the 1910 Census (age 7) and the 1920 Census (age 17), when her family lived at 1938 Morse and 1833 Morse respectively, both in the Rogers Park area of north Chicago.

In a December 1996 article in her retirement home's monthly newsletter, Elizabeth (later known as Betty) said,

As a child, Betty was very bashful.  But to her friends, she was called the "Chicago Flapper" because she loved to have so much fun!!!  Betty graduated from DePaul High School for girls, then went one year to business school to learn typing and clerical work.  At the age of 16, Betty took her most memorable trip with her parents, traveling six weeks by train through the Grand Canyon, California, and the Canadian Rockies. 

When Betty was 18, she met Paul Pape through a friend and the two started dating. One of her most wonderful dates was when they took a romantic canoe ride on Lake Michigan and he sang "Indian Love [Call]" song to her. [Links to original and later lyrics; 1925 instrumental, 1936 movie, and later recorded versions.]

Four years later, Betty and Paul were married on September 3, 1924, at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Rogers Park where they had a beautiful large wedding and reception. They honeymooned in Woodruff, Wisconsin, where, unfortunately, it poured rain the whole time! So they returned to Chicago and enjoyed the shows and dinners out, "but not fishing!" Betty said. 

Growing up, Betty enjoyed golfing, acting, and being on stage. She and Paul loved to fish and travel often to [Dairymen's County Club in] Wisconsin.

Paul and Betty lived for a while in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, while Paul was involved in a business venture there, and their oldest child, Paul Robert Pape Jr., was born there in January 1926.  By October 1927, they were back in the Chicago area, where second child Elizabeth "Betty" Mary Pape Streff was born.  The 1930 and 1940 Censuses show them at the home my father grew up in, at 2093 W. Lunt Avenue in north Chicago.  Two more daughters, Rose Mary Pape Dietz and Marilyn Electa Pape Hedger, were born while they lived in this home.

Sometime around 1955, after all their children were married, Betty and Paul moved to a duplex townhouse at 2027 Lake Avenue in nearby Wilmette.  The triplex townhouse on Hastings in Evanston was built in 1956, so I think they moved into it either that year or the next.  They continued to live there through Grandpa Paul's death in April 1970, and Nana (Betty) was there for at least a few months afterward, as I remember visiting her there in the summer of 1970.

Nana then moved in with her daughter Rose Mary and her family at their home at 305 Bel Air in Glenview, Illinois.  They were there through at least 1980, but by 1986, they had moved to Largo, Florida.  On March 12, 1994, Nana moved into the Royal Palms retirement community in Largo,  She was a member of their "kitchen band," and enjoyed knitting and playing bingo, bridge, and pinochle. I remember visiting her there in December 1999, shortly before she died, on January 13, 2000.

At the time of her death, Nana had 28 grandchildren, 77 (of a total of 78) great-grandchildren, and one great-great-granddaughter, with a great-great-grandson on the way.  (Now, there are so many great-great-grandchildren, I can't keep track of them all.)  In her interview, Nana said, "Writing to all of them keeps me very busy too!"  She is buried next to her husband Paul in All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.