Messing About Reeds Lake in Boats

By Gail Snow

Our May program, Messing About Reeds Lake in Boats, presented by local historian Gail Snow, is part of the Grand Rapids Historical Society’s annual banquet, taking place at the Women’s City Club again this year. Details about the banquet are inside this newsletter.

Reeds Lake today it is a place where people live, people visit and people drive past noticing that the town of East Grand Rapids is situated on a lake. The shores of the lake are fairly crowded with homes, mostly mansions with the occasional cottage that belonged to someone’s grandparents. There is still a little wilderness, but only where the topography prevents more building. There is some commercial activity, municipal buildings, a restaurant, a marina or two. And there are boats. Mostly power boats, some sailboats, and an occasional kayak or canoe can be seen out on the water. The scene is now like most other lakes in the state.

Nothing is left of the raffish, rollicking days of Reeds Lake except for a portion of the restaurant, a mansion that used to be a resort, and a small house with a sign referring to boat building. Resorts that burned down or were bulldozed and buried, no longer even exist in the memories of people, those days were so long ago.

This is a picture of the Lakeside Boat Club that shows the Major Watson and Hazel A. steamers along with a collection of rental boats. It would have been taken in 1895 or 1896.

In the days of yore, days gone by, good old days, not only did a multitude of resorts offer amusement to visitors, there were amazing boats. In fact, the resort business began with boats, just simple boats. And gradually, as the crowds grew, the boats grew – in size and in number. Visitors could rent a boat and power it themselves, or take a tour of the lake as passengers on a steam launch, or witness a rowing contest in a regatta. During the 1890s, there were three large steamboats which, if placed end to end on a football field, would knock down the goal posts! With these three boats out on the lake and dozens upon dozens of rowboats all moving about at once, the Reeds Lake scene was anything but serene and peaceful.

This is a picture of the Ramona, the last of the great steamers on Reeds Lake. Charlie Poisson is on the left, handling the rope. His son Bill is the other gentleman.

There were accidents and near-accidents; there were drownings and rescues. And, there were incidents where two of the passenger steamers tried to occupy the same space at the same time causing damage to the boats and sending the pilots to court. Newspaper reporters enjoyed writing about the goings-on at Reeds Lake, in those wonderfully lively, historic times. Those days will never return except in pictures and stories, the preservation of which is due to the efforts of historical societies, libraries and archives.

This is a very early photo of the Major A. B. Watson building up a head of steam. It was launched in June, 1892.

The major part of the history of the old Reeds Lake is told in the lore of its boats and the people associated with them. Add to that the boat clubs and the boat builders, and the reader or hearer of the stories becomes a captive to times gone by.

About the Author Gail Snow

Gail Snow is in the process of writing two books. The first one to be finished is about Ramona Park, the second about Reeds Lake. She has been doing research on these topics since the fall of 2008. Besides the work of gathering information and photos and organizing them for the books, she has had several speaking engagements around town. She is also a volunteer in the archives at the main branch of the Grand Rapids Library.

“Messing About Reeds Lake in Boats” at the 2012 Banquet of the Grand Rapids Historical Society, May 10, 2012 b y Gail Snow. Reception 6:00 p.m. Dinner 6:45 p.m.