https://www.gwbhs.org History Matters Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.gwbhs.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/cropped-GWBHS-Circle-Logo-no-background-32x32.png https://www.gwbhs.org 32 32 https://www.gwbhs.org/object/sylvan-lake-inn-3/ Wed, 11 Aug 2004 05:00:00 +0000 http://www.gwbhs.org/object/sylvan-lake-inn-3/ In 1893 Merrill B. Mills, Mansfield Shelly, George Barbour, and J. Blair Simpson decided to establish a resort at Sylvan Lake. Merrill B. Mills built a summer hotel on a hilly point separating the two parts of the lake. He did his best to encourage land sales by offering a free weekend at his hotel for those who brought a lot in the subdivision. There was a golf course, a riding stable, furnished with saddle horses, a bathing beach, a bowling alley and even a billiard parlor. The center of the resort, a hotel, was erected on the present site of the Community Center for $25,000. The grounds were lighted by electricity in connection with the interurban railway. In Addition to the hotel, owners planned a community containing 1300 building lots, six public parks, a school house, a depot and church sites. In 1903 the Sylvan Lake Inn burned down. For many years, the family of Merrill Mills gave the Detroit Free Press a restricted deed to the property formerly occupied by Mills’ summer hotel. Around 1906, Mills donated this property to The Detroit Free Press for use as the Fresh Air Camp.

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