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Website designed, written and constructed by Dan Aument
Along with Mr. Bayne and Mr. Barber, shown with his family at their cottage ON Lake Michigan Drive (the lower boardwalk), LC Stow of Stow Davis Furniture was a charter member in the yacht club. In June of 1898 the organization had prospered and it was decided to buy some property at Jenison Park on the south side of the lake and build a proper two story club house building. The name was changed to the Macatawa Yacht Club, and later to the Macatawa Bay Yacht Club, the name it uses to this day.
Click here to see more pictures of the Macatawa Yacht Club and sailboats on Black Lake.
This photo shows the Holland Life Saving station on the left and the lighthouse keeper’s cottage on the right. They were situated on the south side of the channel.
Fire was a constant concern for Ottawa Beach - as it was for all summer resorts - where the wooden cottages were always tinder dry and where fire protection was minimal or non existant. In August of 1899 a firecracker started a fire under the flooring of the Hotel Ottawa Annex...
Both the crew of the life saving station just across the channel and the City of Holland Fire Department put out the blaze. The fire was serious enough so that guests had started to throw trunks and personal belongings out of the windows. The life saving crew was called upon to help fight fires at both the Macatawa and Ottatwa Beach resorts on several occasions.
These graceful wooden sloops probably belonged to Macatawa Yacht Club members. Click here for a bigger view of this picture.
The history of Ottawa Beach - Page Eight
