The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1921-07-16
NEGRO LEADERS MAKE MECCA
OF RESORT.
Resort Has Wonderful Clubhouse,
Private Railway Station and Score
of SumptuOusly Furnished Cot
tages in Addition to One of Finest
OBathing Beaches in state.

OBathing Beaches in state.
Baldwin. July An all the
length and breath of the great va
cation state Of Michigan there isn't
another such unique Summer resort
as Idlcwild on the shores of Crook
ed Lake. about 10 miles east Of
Baldwin.
Twenty-six hundred reporters
came TO Idlewild last summer and
every last one of them was a Ne
gro It is, in fact. the largest Ne
gro watering place in the United
States.
With a railroad station all its
own or reached by automobile, Idle
wild is the hot weather mecca of
Colored professional and business
leaders from coast to coast. They
come from Topeka and Toledo, New
York and New Orleans, Philadel-
phia and Portland. Among them
are doctors. lawyers, teachers, clergy
great Negro settlements in large
cities.
Bower of Beauty.
Idlewild was first plated a few
years ago by an enterprising Chicago
syndicate which bought options on
all the land surrounding Crooked
Lake. Lake county, with 70 lakes
within its borders, never had really
appreciated this unusual bower of
beauty set among the pines. OF all
the 70 lakes there are few more
beautiful than this one.
As soon as the enterprising Chica-
goans had completed their options
and bought the first stretches of
shore land, they started work in
earnest. Now there are more than
400 cottages around the lake in ad-
dition TO the huge clubhouse which
cafes for scores of guests in indi-
vidual bunk houses. The clubhouse
itself is a woodland beauty. A spa
cious lobby and library is provided
with musical instruments, books, the
latest magazines, elaborate furni-
ture, etc. Over a huge fireplace
of field stone is a memorial por-
trait of the greatest American Ne
gro, Booker T. Washington. A wide
veranda extends across the entire
front of the clubhouse. There also
are indoor dining rooms and a
screened porch cafe.
Cottages Elaborate.
! Some of the cottages erected by
the wealthy Colored folk are as
/ elaborate as the best Of those own
ed by white resOrters on other lakes
near here The entire resort is laid
out in Blocks. with streets leading
from the main drive to the lake
front, and each resorter has his or
her name prominently displayed to
aid stranger visitors.
Idlewild has a splendid sand bath
ing beach with a driving platform
and pier. There is boat livery in
addition to a power boat for the
fishermen; and men of the first
rank The lake is well stocked
with fish of all sorts, and nearby
are a number of good trout streams.
Idlewild residents seldom leave
their resort. They have their own
dances and parties, receive their
mail in a special sack from Bald
win and are otherwise a distinctive
colony. The entire lake shore is
their property, and, although they
are at all times .hospitable, they are
seldom annoyed by curiosity seekers.
With the resort already opened
for the 1921 season and at least
two score of new cottages under
construction, it is predicted that
Idlewild viii have population in
excess Of 3 1000 this year
Instead of feeling annoyance,
white sportsmen who lone to the
famous fishing, hunting and resort
region around this city thoroughly
approve the Idlewild Resort. 1t has
resulted in bringing the Negroes
! together in a distinctive colony. The
I famous Big Star Lake. Ell Lake,
Pere Marquette fishing grounds,
camps and other great resort waters
of this district make no protest
against the Crooked Lake resort,
since it is far distant in the woods;
and the Negroes have made no at
tempt to obtain leases at either Big
Star Ell or other lakes favored by
white resorters. They never visit
the other resorts.