Melrose Township in Walloon Lake in Charlevoix County, Michigan — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Walloon Lake
One Hundred Years
| | From Wilderness...to Vacation Land | |
Photographed by Joel Seewald, April 13, 2026
1. Walloon Lake Marker
Since the last ice age, Northern Lower Michigan was a rich land of lakes and streams. For thousands of years, its forests and wildlife were much different than today. Elk was the dominant game animal and the gray wolf and panther were its predators. Native Americans, of various nations, came and went as each hunted and fished. It was the Odawa that were here at the time of European contact. They trapped beaver and fished whitefish and sturgeon. In the Nineteenth Century, everything changed. The Erie Canal brought a surge of western expansion. Michigan was surveyed and its resources seen as the source of minerals and lumber for an expanding country. Beginning in 1869, Michigan lumber companies cut over 2 million acres of timber, mostly white pine. Millions of logs were moved down rivers to the great mills at Muskegon, Saginaw and Manistee. Inland, railroad lines were built, into nearly every county, to move logs, workers and supplies. By 1900, the logging era was over. The landscape of Northern Michigan was transformed forever.
As the logging era was ending, the railroads began expanding to transport a different commodity
this page online
In 1891, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad built a spur, called "The Dummy", from its main trunk line to the station in the village, known as Talcott on Bear Lake. The first depot was called Melrose, south of Clarion, then eventually moved to Clarion.
Once the Dummy line was completed to the village, it became possible for resorters, from as far away as St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City to easily reach the lake by rail.
In 1893, the Railroad brought in a small passenger steamer, the 90 foot Walloon. The Walloon took passengers, from the Village Station, to landings on the lake shore, making five round trips a day. In 1904, the steamer line was sold, whose new owner renamed the boat The Tourist. The Tourist operated
Photographed by Joel Seewald, April 13, 2026
2. Walloon Lake Marker
* Remains of the Tourist were hauled from the lake in the early 1950s.
"Recognized by all as an exceptionally beautiful spot, resting up here in "The Arms of Nature" - one hundred feet above Lake Michigan, fanned by gentle breezes, fed by sparkling springs, oozing from its forty-five miles of sandy beach, shaded by primitive forests of pine and hardwood, it beckons to the tourists in an irresistible way."The Village of Walloon Lake was originally named Talcott. As the story goes, a local butcher, J. R. Haas, saw the name Walloon Lake on an old railroad map, he tried to discover the history behind the name. It is thought that a group of Walloons from Belgium settled the land at the north end of Bear Lake. No trace of this settlement has ever been found.
- 1911 Picturesque Walloon pamphlet
As the name "Walloon" grew in popularity, locals formally changed the lake's name in 1900 from Bear Lake to Walloon Lake to avoid confusion with other Bear Lakes in Michigan.
Near this very spot...
Hotel Walloon, across the road from the lake, was opened in the 1890s by Mrs. James Hass. In 1900, the New Walloon Hotel was built by Alfred Hass near the steamer dock.
By 1905, the village had a boat livery, boat factory, 3 stores, a post office, a bowling alley and 2 churches. The Village was the hub of lake activity.
In 1875, one of the lake's first settlers, John Henry McConnell, from Grand Rapids, acquired a large portion of property on the north arm, just west of Indian Garden Point on what was then named "Bear Lake." (His son, Joseph later opened an inn called Bear Lake Inn; later named Echo Beach Inn; another son, Henry, opened The Melrose). Another early settler, Franklin Davis opened Hemlock Point, in 1880-81.
Land of Hemingway
In 1898, the year before Ernest was born, Clarence and Grace Hemingway, of Oak Park, Illinois, boarded a Great Lakes steamship for a trip to the wilderness of Northern Michigan. They had heard stories of Michigan's beauty and the wonderful effect of the fresh air there had on people's health and Dr. Hemingway was interested in seeing it himself. It took the family two days to reach their destination, Bear Lake, near Petoskey.
They stayed with Grace's cousins at Wildwood Harbor.
What the Hemingways' discovered was a region in the midst of change. Tourism was emerging as an economic force. Bear Lake was very typical of what was happening at other lakes in the region. Some visitors were deciding that they would prefer to own a cottage rather than stay at a resort hotel. This appealed to Dr. Hemingway as he liked the idea of his family enjoying summers in a healthy natural environment where opportunities for outdoor work and enjoying nature were plentiful. The Hemingways decided to buy property on the lake. It was a full acre of waterfront on a small bay with maple, birch and hemlock trees with a lakeshore perfect for swimming. It was owned by Henry Bacon, a farmer whose property bordered the lot, and was close to "Bacon's Landing," where the lake steamships regularly stopped. Before they returned to Oak Park, the Hemingways purchased the lot and made plans to build their cottage, Windemere, where they would spend their future summers with young Ernest.
Ernest would come to Windemere each summer until his marriage in 1921.
Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. Many of these are considered classics of American literature.
Image captions:
1. Walloon Hotel
2. Merrils's Boat Livery
3. The "new" Village Train Depot, built in 1910, was located across from the New Walloon Hotel. The first one was destroyed by a fire in 1907.
4. Merrill's Boat Livery
5. Early village image showing the railroad tracks extending to the lake for transferring freight.
6. Merrill's Bathing Beach
7. MasterCraft Boat Works
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Indigenous Peoples and Communities • Industry & Commerce • Parks & Recreational Areas. A significant historical year for this entry is 1869.
Location. 45° 15.805′ N, 84° 56.003′ W. Marker is in Walloon Lake, Michigan, in Charlevoix County. It is in Melrose Township. It is on State Highway 75 half a mile west of U.S. 131 when traveling south. Marker is in Village Green Park. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 4127 North M-75, Boyne City MI 49712, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Northern Michigan Lower Peninsula, in the Grand Traverse Bay Region, and in one of the Lake Michigan Shore counties. It is also in the American Midwest. Globally, it is in North America, on the Great Lakes, in the Western Hemisphere, in the Western World, and in the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 6 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Hemingway on Walloon (here, next to this marker); a different marker also named Walloon Lake (a few steps from this marker); Walloon By Boat (within shouting distance of this marker); Walloon Depot (within shouting distance of this marker); Walloon Hotel (within shouting distance of this marker); Walloon Village (within shouting distance of this marker); Hemingway at Walloon Lake (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); La Chapelle Sisters (approx. 5.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Walloon Lake.
Credits. This page was last revised on April 28, 2026. It was originally submitted on April 28, 2026, by Joel Seewald of Madison Heights, Michigan. This page has been viewed 28 times since then. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on April 28, 2026, by Joel Seewald of Madison Heights, Michigan.
