1930’s

Hop On The Bus!

Published on by Kathy Baker

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“Camp Goers Too Busy To Worry About Weather” read the headline from a local Bay City newspaper pasted into the archival scrapbook. “Grade School Registered At Maqua Today: 25 Travel By Bus” was the second headline.

“Too agog about going to camp to care about the gray weather, and too busy lugging crowded bags to bother about rain coats, twenty-five youngsters of grade school age were at the YWCA this morning to board the bus that took them to Loon Lake. Munching candy, and starting to sing before they were even out of town, the crowd made a merry invasion of Camp Maqua for the first camping period of the season”, read the piece from June 26, 1935.

“The girls usually arrived on a bus that left from the YWCA in Bay City”, wrote 1920’s camper Margaret Dahlem in a letter in 1988, “but one rich girl arrived on a white motorcycle.”

There were more ways to arrive in style, as her friend Harriet Crumb could attest to one summer as she stood on the lawn of the lodge. She also rode the bus through Pinconning, Standish, Twining, Turner and Whittemore and into Hale, singing camp songs the entire time and loved the attention she received from the locals as they arrived in town.

“Initially, we were all loaded onto a bus, which belonged to the Y,” recalled Beverly Schlatter (1944-1949), “in front of the old “Y” building. We would meet all our friends there, with our footlockers or trunks packed with clothes or bedding for two weeks. My Dad unloaded the footlocker from the car to the bus and all the parents waved to us. As the bus pulled away, the older girls who had been to camp before, started singing the Maqua camp songs and that’s how we learned them.”

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Nurses, Doctors and Patients-#1

Published on by Kathy Baker

Off to camp went the girls, with their injection records up to date, physicals performed and armed with whatever medications they may need for their stay. Although the staff always included medical personnel, there was no way a summer camping session could maintain a clean slate of minor medical maladies, and sometimes even some major ones.

There was always a sick bay of some sort, whether in Dutton or in the new Infirmary and it was always staffed with a health official.As early as June 26, 1935 there was a mention in a news article about medical staff at the camp. The article was partially cut off, but mentioned Dr. Lorna Feng as the camp physician. (The piece noted her interest in art, literature and poetry; her position as an intern at Grace Hospital and that she was one of fifteen children educated abroad.)

Dorothy Bonnen, who camped in 1942, said “Dr. Vail’s wife was our nurse and she volunteered her time at camp with her five year old little boy with her around as she did her job. She used to be the person who inspected the cabins for tidiness.” (It is unclear if her husband was the doctor on call.)

There were also unexpected injuries that demanded immediate attention. “The mouse that Pam Farley hit with a broom during the day came out limping at night and she said ‘poor mouse’ and picked it up,” said Pat O’Tool (1944-52). “It proceeded to bite her and she had to be taken to West Branch to the doctor for a tenanus shot.”IMG_6155

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Dutton and the Infirmary

Published on by Kathy Baker

IMG_2086The farmhouse on the shores of Loon Lake was the first structure used as the main building in the summer of 1924 when the Camp Maqua property was purchased.

“Dutton was a farm house on the property, and this was used the first and second years and about twelve girls could be accommodated at one time, with a staff of three. The screened porch (which was added in 1940) was used for indoor activities, and the cooking was done in the same building”, according to a note in the archives.

There were a few discrepancies in the notes as to year the upstairs porch was added to Dutton, but it provided sleeping quarters for the director and the nurse and at one time the dietician.

A few tents were set up for the first campers. Miss Helen Graves, secretary of the Girl Reserve Department of the YWCA was the first camp director and Mrs. E.B. Perry was the camp chairman.

Margaret Dahlem was one of the original campers in the twenties and recalled the nurse’s first aid room was near the kitchen in the lodge during her stay. Beverly Schlatter, who had camped in the mid forties, recalled a tent/cabin, which appeared to be a temporary structure, and was located down the hill from the lodge. “It was used as the Infirmary and it was about 50-60 ft. from the lodge between the craft hut and the lodge. The nurse dispensed meds or we went there if we were ill. I remember I had to go twice a day to get my meds for some reason.”

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Aladdin–The Preferred Builder

Published on by Kathy Baker

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Pictorial: Aladdin Homes – Bay City, Michigan : Bay-Journal

The Aladdin Company from Bay City was the primary builder of the huts or cabins, but it is unclear whether the lodge was built by the same company.

Founded by brothers W.J. Sovereign, O.E. Sovereign and Charles Munro in 1906, it was a pioneer for mail order pre-cut kit homes. Their best years were around the time the camp decided to build the lodge in 1924. Many of the huts were donated by the Aladdin Company, featuring their summer cottage style.

In 1937 the plans for the new counselor’s cabin were shown to Mr.Paul Thompson, president of the Rotary Club, with the suggestion the club may want to build it for the camp that year.

In 1955 the concerns of the camp committee revolved around different housing arrangements for the cook and whether two more tents (which would house eight each) should be procured, since camp leaders had determined it would be more economical to set up for one hundred girls. A staff cabin was also needed as soon as possible to “free up rooms used for sleeping in the lodge” for a nature room, music room and library.

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Additions To The Property–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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In April 1936, the camp committee discussed a small piece of property that belonged to the D&M Railroad, which would cost $5.44 and back taxes of $800. It must have been purchased, because to this day the tracks can be seen on the back of the property, where the present owners hike during the fall.

In the committee minutes of October 1955, references were made about a piece of property owned by Mr. James Miller, who was willing to donate a lot at the corner of his property for the caretaker’s cabin at the east end of the property. They also questioned a cabin that lay at the foot of Chapel Hill that may have been built over the property line.

Another cabin had been built 15 feet from the camp property line and the owner was trying to sell it for $8500 unfinished or $9500 finished. There were concerns if it did not sell and was rented, it could be “disastrous” to camp.

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Onto The Property–

Published on by Kathy Baker

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Early photographs and postcards of Camp Maqua leave the viewer with the feeling that the property was a beautiful lakeside setting, but had very few trees. In later years, the trees matured with birch, oak, pine and other varieties creating a beautiful forested landscape.

A letter in the archival files from the State of Michigan Department of Conservation in Lansing, dated January 14, 1925, agreed to furnish 2,000 White Pine trees and 2,000 Norway Pines for the property. The letter also stated if more were needed, they would be amenable to providing additional pine trees.

The only other mention of trees on the property in the minutes was in 1963 when the caretaker agreed to check into timber cutting on the swampland of both the old and new property. (Forty-five additional acres had been purchased that year.) The estimate was $1,000-$1,500, but it was unclear if they were paying for it to be cut, or receiving payment for the timber.

The roads were always a constant source of maintenance and concern. As early as 1933 the minutes stated a need for improvements to the road into camp. For $35, they contracted someone to grade, crown and provide drainage in the low places. Other mentions of the road included adding gravel when needed.

Over the years not only the entrance of the road changed, but so did the signs. According to many of the women who were interviewed, the road came in from the east side of the property that wound around the curve of Putnam Rd. and cars entered at the back of the property.

Later the road entrance was moved to Putnam Road at the south end of the property, which was closer to the lodge. The first reference was in 1955, as the minutes stated a discussion held by the camp committee about the road, and a motion was made to build it. A letter in the files from 1956 offered $600 toward the road from Mr. Miller, but “ the board was not inclined to accept that offer or the possibility of leasing property between his and the camps”.

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