Karl Freese

Karl Freese (1915-2000): 1993 taped interview w/ Bill Spurgeon’s son; paraphrased in 2013 by Ann Garceau:

Ideal Beach: Karl first came to the lake at 8 years old which would be 70 years ago, 1923; his father and a friend (may have been Newcomer – #544) each bought a lot on Ideal Beach near where there used to be a water toboggan slide; they both built garages in anticipation of later building cottages (Freese #543); that came true and they did build cottages – they both have been remodeled and still stand (2025) on Ideal Beach; father traveled quite a little and went by Wawasee frequently and got to be interested in it – he liked to fish and had friends in Pickwick Park.

Activities remembered as a small child: remember reeds in the view from Ideal Beach; there were 5 power boats on the lake when he was young – 3 took people on rides and 2 were privately owned; started off with a little metal boat made by Star Tank and Boat Co. (of Goshen) with a little Elto motor started by hand – used a little battery; went fishing quite a little, took mother and friends; only child; came from Nappanee (only 15 miles away) by automobile on US 6 and then on gravel roads to Ideal Beach – SR 13 didn’t exist; neighborhood was not fully developed – in many locations only ½ of the lots were developed; lakefront population was probably 50% less than it is now; some children on Ideal Beach – Tuttle family (#534) (already) living there when they moved here, Diester family (#535) from Ft. Wayne

Had a grocery not too far away – Solt’s Grocery and Restaurant – across from South Shore Inn. Instead of going to Syracuse, we went there. They had a little restaurant – ate quite frequently there – family fare, nothing too fancy, meat market – meats excellent; really enjoyed that place. Ice delivery; on a daily basis milk and other groceries from Solts – all you had to do was ring them up on the phone – longs and short ring pattern; all party lines. Parents visited neighbors, to South Shore Inn was good – had good food, to Tavern Hotel. Sargent’s Hotel had very good food, but we couldn’t afford to eat out all the time.

Ideal Beach toboggan slide (#547):  (The toboggan slide started with a tower maybe 75 or 80’ back from the water and the tower would be about 75’ high; built out of wood; there would be an incline from the top of the tower down to the water’s edge; people would walk up ramp; had an elevator for the toboggans to go up to top; there was water flowing down this incline; incline had a track to keep the toboggan going straight; with the water flowing, they’d release it and away they’d go – usually 2 people to a toboggan; they’d go out on to the waves, they’d skip and hop and frequently they’d go a ways – 100 feet into the lake – they charged by the ride; family by name of J. W. Krieg bought the house on the road; built the slide – owned and managed it for a number of years – he and his wife and maybe 4 or 5 who worked for them; somebody stood at the top of the tower and started the toboggans down and they had a little restaurant (#546) that employed 2 or 3 people.– demolished long ago – in conjunction with it had a bathhouse with rooms where people could change their clothes and go swimming; had a nice, big long pier and we used to go down and watch the girls; that was during Prohibition years, we had a few bootleggers on the south side, and they got their supplies from Canada – they would fly those in at night or late in the evening – just before it got dark – we always got excited about that. They would fly it in on about #15 hole on the South Shore Golf Course. They’d come in with a biplane and a load of booze. From there it was sold around the lake. Waco was the hotspot,and as I got older, I’d manage to get there about every evening. I actually took trumpet lessons from an instructor who had played in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; he was part of the band who played weeknights. Weekend nights they usually had some Big Band; crowd was all ages; everyone enjoyed the music they played; ballroom music; some food, sandwiches and cold drinks; boat rides – Blue Streak took passengers around Lake Wawasee – made those rounds at night – nowdays they wouldn’t appreciate them running at 15-20 m.p.h. or faster – very few boats out at night. Bands usually played ‘til midnight, weekdays; on weekends until 1 or 2:00. People came from outside on weekends to hear the larger bands – like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. There wasn’t adequate parking at Waco; the roads would be parked for half a mile. Ideal Beach was our summer home until 1941. At that time, my father bought a place in Pickwick Park; he had friends there and always wanted to get into Pickwick Park; unfortunately, he died before he ever got to occupy it;

The Lake: The relationship (with the lake) just kind of grew, it really wasn’t planned. We didn’t know how long we’d be here when we first came; the longer we stayed, the more we liked it. Ideal Beach was our summer home until 1941. At that time, my father bought a place (#740) in Pickwick Park; Dad had visited with friends there when he was young, thought it was a great place, but couldn’t afford a place there when he first bought over at Ideal Beach; unfortunately, he died before he ever got to occupy it. House has been remodeled couple times; part of Milford Clubhouse – all documented because we just had our 100th house celebration; this house and house next door (#739) were originally Milford clubhouse – they were split in two later on – one individual purchased part and another individual purchased the other part. To start there were about three or four families that built this building (clubhouse) and had their friends and families come – they operated a private hotel of sorts; later on, they decided they weren’t so interested; one party was very interested so he bought from the others. No fences between yards in Pickwick Park; people better acquainted; free to walk up and down. Pickwick Park Association since 1934 – bank in Goshen is trustee for 17 families; 55 acres joined jointly (pay to have it mowed; maybe I started it (mowing), there were weeds back there; I said, “If you’re going to call it Pickwick Park, then you’d ought to make it look like a park.” I hired someone to mow back there. Right now, we’re looking to reforest it. Don’t know what will transpire; extends back to railroad and to Wawasee Boat Co. – lease a little land to them. Garage enlarged when he bought in 1941; buildings at back – most of them were horse barns – they kept teams of horses in here – they would go to Syracuse; there was a bridge back here across the channel, and they would go over there and pick up people who came in on the B and O from Chicago, Milford, whoever happened to be on board – all this has been documented; my daughter did a little research on it. Not much turnover in homes – been some in last 10 years. Ideal Beach – people more fenced in.

Karl’s children growing up: did more sailing – especially son, daughter not so much; had summer jobs – son worked at Culver part of the time; daughter had jobs; did more than I did to earn some money.

Personalities: good neighbors in Pickwick: Ward Stillson (#742) from Anderson, IN – one of the finest people I’ve ever known, he helped to raise my kids, he may have spent more time with them than I did – I was out playing golf, he taught them sailing. Mr. Lilly: a friend (of Karl’s) bought a sailboat that Mr. Lilly had that had been imported from Holland; kept it here just a few yards away for part of a summer; later on it went to Holland, MI. Noll family, Ft. Wayne – never got closely acquainted with them. Frank McKinney, Jr. was National Treasurer of the Democratic Party, I think; killed in airplane accident over Indianapolis a year ago; widow (Marianne) has cottage (#743) – third cottage from Karl.

Chinese Gardens: Mr. W.E. Long leased the ground from the owners – long term leases. It was a thing of beauty; he offered it to Pickwick Park at one time when he decided he no longer wanted to maintain it, but the expense seemed exorbitant, so Pickwick turned it down; thought perhaps some of the other neighbors that were directly across the channel could take more of an interest than they have; one of the problems was title to the land back there; some of the lakefront lots extended on back – there were so many owners that it complicated the matter – now it’s grown up in wild stage. 

Winter: doesn’t particularly enjoy winter – prefers FL

Fires/natural disasters: We had couple of mini tornados in Pickwick Park – one a couple of years ago and one this year (1993) – not that much damage – lakefront cottages not seriously damaged – went more back into the woods behind us – seemed to dip down there. Had one home burn down completely – 3 doors from us – kind of a fearsome thing. One fear we’ve always had was that a fire would get started in here and take the whole area – like a lot of places around Wawasee.

Lot of homes being built now are a lot bigger and winterized. All we had on Ideal Beach was a fireplace. Pickwick Park house had that tower – part of Milford Clubhouse – has picture of it showing original clubhouse; top was originally flat and has been changed.

Pictures: Milford Clubhouse; Ideal Beach lakeshore with Falcon and Ideal Beach pier, frequently have 6-8’ of sand out in front of seawall, their original cottage/garage on Ideal Beach, lookout built around a tree (may have been at Quiessers #542); Star Tank and Boat Co. boat and 16 horse Evinrude – my hand was usually bloody from pulling the starting rope – Elto engine – flipped the fly wheel to make it go – fly wheel go in one direction, and then flipped it against compression to go in other direction; plywood boat; canvas boathouse and Hackercraft.  Excellent idea to find binoculars – son-in-law is an artist and made it for them – pamphlet that was handed out at their celebration