If you cross the bridge into Minocqua on a warm summer evening, you might feel as if you’ve traveled back in time. To one side, a golden sunset glinting off the water; to the other the lake framed by towering pines and the flash of an eagle’s wings. The air is crisp and pine-scented, inviting you to slow down and breathe. This tranquil northern Wisconsin scene belies a rich history, where logging camps gave way to lakeside lodges, and generations of families forged lifelong memories on these shores.
In the late 1800s, the towns of Minocqua, Hazelhurst, Woodruff, and Arbor Vitae were born in Wisconsin’s great logging boom. Giant pines drew lumber companies north, and railroads soon followed to haul the timber south. Minocqua was formally established in 1889 amid this flurry of sawmills and train whistles. Yet the frenzy was short-lived. Within a decade, most of the old-growth forest was gone, leaving behind stump-filled land and sparkling glacial lakes. As the logging industry dwindled, the resort industry blossomed.
Railroads made the remote Northwoods accessible to city dwellers seeking cooler air and recreation. Daily passenger service to Minocqua had begun in 1888, and soon sportsmen’s specials were packed with anglers and families bound for the lakes. Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway even launched “The Fisherman’s Special,” an overnight Pullman train that whisked Milwaukeeans and Chicagoans to Minocqua’s piers by dawn on Saturdays.
By the 1920s, dozens of new resorts and businesses sprang up to cater to these rail-borne visitors, willing to spend all day on the train for that first glimpse of the “Island City” of Minocqua, built right in the middle of the lake. The former logging hubs were now lake country, where bait shops and boathouses replaced lumberyards. Even the old rail beds found new life. The Bearskin and Hiawatha lines that once hauled logs now serve as scenic trails for hiking, biking, and snowmobiling through the heart of this region. Logging had cleared the way—quite literally—for a new kind of harvest: summer joy and Northwoods hospitality.
By mid-century, the Minocqua area was firmly established as a beloved summer haven. Families started traditions of “going up to the cabin” each year, and many of those traditions endure today. Lakeside resorts, from grand hotels to clusters of rustic cabins, became the backdrop for countless reunions, fishing trips, and childhood adventures.
A prime example is Black’s Cliff Resort on Hazelhurst’s Lower Kaubashine Lake: originally built in 1918 by a railroad man from Chicago who “pined for lively lakes in the Northwoods far from the crowded city”, it has been lovingly run by the Black family for four generations. Guests at Black’s Cliff return year after year—the Schmelzer family came for over 40 years straight— passing their Northwoods traditions down like a treasured heirloom.
In Arbor Vitae, Coon’s Franklin Lodge, founded as a fishing camp in 1892, gradually evolved into a family-oriented resort and is now operated by the fourth generation of the Coon family. Also on the shores of majestic Trout Lake, successful businessmen established the exclusive Red Crown Lodge in 1922 as a corporate getaway for Standard Oil, demonstrating that even captains of industry couldn’t resist the Northwoods allure.
Woodruff, at the “Crossroads of the North,” was a logging junction that turned into a tourism crossroads as well. There, old logging dams on the Tomahawk Lake chain, once built to float
logs downstream, created ideal waterways for boating and fishing, laying the groundwork for camps and resorts to flourish around the clear water. Indian Shores RV Resort & Campground began as Camp Strongheart for boys in 1924, and has now been welcoming visitors to its original lodge on Lake Tomahawk since 1976.
