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DOUGLAS LAKESHORE – THE BEGINNING
Ever
notice—our history always has a beginning— and it usually starts with an
interesting story.
“Three damn fools want to pay $500 for a pile of sand in my cow pasture, and
I want to close it up (the deal) before they back out” -- the Irish farmer
and sailer Thomas McVea said to the Allegan County surveyor. Who got the
better end of the deal is obscured in the haze of history. But at any rate,
so begins the story of the sale of a piece of the McVea property in the
summer of 1899 to three “city slickers” named Sayre, Canfield, and Sperry.
After short visits these gentlemen had fallen in love with the Douglas
lakeshore and hatched a plan to build summer cottages in the area just north
of the present Douglas Beach. The coveted property was on the edge of what
was then McVea’s farm. Determined to proceed with their plan they negotiated
for a piece of the McVea cow pasture which included 500 feet of Lake
Michigan beach.
At that time the area included just two summer resident families, the Barto
and the Douglass families, from the Chicago area. Nearby, to the east, were
the Trumbulls and McVeas – who were serious farmers, sailors and pioneers of
the area.
Sayre started to build and completed his place straight away. The others
made plans and built in 1900 on what became known as The Knolls. In fact in
that year a building boomlet commenced when some six cottages were
completed. In the next ten years land prices went up, Shorewood was created
and the pioneer settlers with fattened wallets went into the summer resort
business and built Beachmont (McVea), Five Acre Farm (Trumbull), and
Rosemont (Bryan).
Those summer roots grew deep and so our history began ...
by Jack Sheridan
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