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In 1886, 54 acres on the north side of the channel were surveyed and platted by a development group organized as the West Michigan Park Association . The officers of this organization (which exists to this day) was comprised almost entirely of Grand Rapids residents and included a number of prominent citizens. Included among them were Chicago and West Michigan Railway superintendent JKV Agnew, railway General Manager JB Mulliken, railway General Passenger Agent WA Gavett and Col. Chas Nix, who owned resort hotels in Lake Geneva, WI and St. Joseph, MI. This newly formed association planned to build a resort hotel at Ottawa Beach and extend the Chicago and West Michigan Railway line out it from Holland. Individual lots roughly 50' x 100' were laid out for summer cottages in this plat, some facing Lake Michigan, others facing Lake Macatawa.

The young boy at the right in this 1920‘s photo is Robert Work, who still has his original 1886 property certificate from the West Michigan Park Association. This 1920's photo shows him with his brothers and sisters in front of the Work family cottage on Terrace Ave., the upper boardwalk. The coaster wagon was not just a child's toy, it is a common means of hauling household items from the automobile parking lot to the cottages. The big oak tree still comes up in the middle of the boardwalk to shade the Work family cottage which continues to be

The West Michigan Park Association built the Hotel Ottawa in June of 1886 at a cost of over $20,000. The two story hotel with 36 guest rooms was built atop a bluff facing Lake Macatawa, and Lake Michigan could clearly be seen to the west. Note the windmill visible at the right behind the hotel which supplied water for the hotel and the cottages. Half of the cost of building the hotel came from the sale of the cottage lots, with the rest of the money raised through the sale of bonds. Within a year of the opening of the new Hotel Ottawa, 20 summer cottages were built in the West Michigan Park Plat. The majority of the historic cottages standing today at Ottawa Beach were built between 1887 and 1900. All building materials - the lumber, bricks, window glass and furnishings - were transported to Ottawa Beach by boat from Holland until completion of the railway line. There were no roads from Holland to the lake shore and the only way of reaching the two resort hotels was by one of the two excursion steamers.