See You Next Summer: Postcard Memories of Sparrow Lake

By Bruce McCraw

Bustling station platforms, with quaint steamers nearby, often appear on early Sparrow Lake postcards. It was at the station that rail passengers were met and taken by boat to one of the over 20 hotels that once flourished in this holiday area. Such a trip could take about three hours on this roughly three-mile lake, bordering the southern Muskoka arm of the Canadian Shield. Upon arrival, the outdoors beckoned to one and all.

Vintage postcards illustrate the stories of an earlier time in "cottage country." Bruce McCraw’s lifetime familiarity with the lake has been augmented by contributions from local residents and guests of Sparrow Lake resorts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dundurn
• Release date: Jul 15, 1998
• ISBN: 9781459717923

Bruce McCraw

Bruce McCraw, now deceased was a professor from the University of Guelph, first experienced Sparrow Lake as a toddler with his family. There his father is reputed to have caught one of the largest muskies ever taken from the lake. Today Bruce continues his research, but now the focus is on the resorts of Sparrow Lake and on matching his father's prowess as a fisherman.

Book preview

SEE YOU

NEXT SUMMER

Postcard Memories of

Sparrow Lake Resorts

Bruce M. McCraw

SEE YOU

NEXT SUMMER

Postcard Memories of

Sparrow Lake Resorts

Bruce M. McCraw

See You Next Summer

Postcard Memories of Sparrow Lake Resorts

Bruce McCraw

Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.

Copyright © 1998 by Bruce McCraw

All rights reserved. No portion of this book, with the exception of brief extracts for the purpose of literary review, may be reproduced in any form without the permission of the publisher.

Published by Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc.

(P.O. Box 95, Station O, Toronto, Ontario, M4A 2M8)

Designed by Gringo Design

Printed and bound in Canada by Hignell Book Printing, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

McCraw, Bruce

See you next summer : postcard memories of Sparrow Lake Resorts

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-896219-41-1

1. Sparrow Lake Region (Simcoe and Muskoka, Ont.) — History. 2. Sparrow Lake Region (Simcoe and Muskoka, Ont.) — History — Pictorial works. 3. Postcards — Ontario — Sparrow Lake Region (Simcoe and Muskoka). I. Title.

Natural Heritage / Natural History Inc. acknowledges the support received for its publishing program from the Canada Council Block Grant Program. We also acknowledge with gratitude the assistance of the Association for the Export of Canadian Books, Ottawa.

Dedicated to my father Donald Frederick Fraser McCraw (1883-1976) who gave me many happy summers at Sparrow Lake where he also taught me how to fish –

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword: David E. Stanton, President, Sparrow Lake Historical Society

Author’s Note

Acknowledgments

About Postcards

Map of Sparrow Lake

From the Beginning

An overview of the early history of Sparrow Lake and the initial development of Sparrow Lake tourism.

Resorts of Port Stanton

Stanton House

Sparrow Cottage

Bayview-Wildwood

Lakeshore House

Bonheur Lodge/Bayview Lodge

Wildwood Inn

Sundown Lodge/Wild Echo

From Port Stanton to Maple Grove

Sparrow Lake (Massey) Camp

Roehl’s Hotel (Torpitt)

Torpitt Lodge

Grandview Lodge

Maple Grove

From Port Stanton to Vanomi

Bennett’s Peninsula Farm Hotel

Idylwild Lodge

Lakeview House

Wenona Lodge

Clipsham Lodge

Uneeda Rest Hotel

Wiancko House

Delmonte-in-the-Pines

Vernon Lodge

Franklin House/Silver Pines

Balmoral Hotel

Mount Royal/Hamyrth Lodge

Vanomi/Sparrow Beach Lodge

The Things We Did Together

Fishing

Boating

Bathing and Beaches

Friendly Competition and Get-togethers

Church on Sunday

Epilogue

Richard Hymans, Sheridan Park Public School, Mississauga, Ontario

Notes

Index

Credits for visuals

About the Author

FOREWORD

The sentiment expressed in the title of this book by Bruce McCraw, certainly applies to my life. I grew up on Sparrow Lake and cut my teeth in the tourist business working in my parents’ budding resort ‘The Wildwood Inn.’ Later I chose a more technical vocation and left to live in Brampton, Ontario for twenty-five years pursuing an aviation career. I retired early and, quickly, Ann and I sought to get back to the lake where we had had so many happy days at our cottage. We built our retirement home on our cottage site and now we enjoy every day on this lovely lake. Being a part of its history, I became involved in The Sparrow Lake Historical Society and take great pleasure in the retelling of this history.

Through the years the Society has assisted in such projects as Still Smiling at the Front Desk by my cousin Susan Pryke, and A Legacy Almost Lost by the Kilworthy Historical Committee led by Betty Chish-Graham. We have acknowledged and promoted A Respectable Ditch by author and member Professor James Angus which is a history of the Severn River. His latest book Severn River is a wonderful pictorial book on the Severn River and Sparrow Lake area.

It is now my privilege to endorse this book by Bruce McCraw and its delightful format of telling the past through a collection of postcards. Bruce has been attending postcard and antique shows and buying postcards throughout the years as a hobby. He now has compiled them into a history of the resorts and through the magic of pictures this book will take you back to a time of happy memories and places you have experienced. It is a labour of love for Bruce and he has worked meticulously to ensure the correct story is told. This book brings forth the history in a vivid presentation that will be treasured and present on coffee tables for many years to come.

The Sparrow Lake Historical Society congratulates Bruce McCraw on this very special book . . .

David Stanton, President

Sparrow Lake Historical Society 1998

AUTHOR’S NOTE

My story of Sparrow Lake is not unusual and can probably be duplicated by many who find that Sparrow Lake tugs at their heart.

My father was told of Grandview Hotel on Sparrow Lake by an old friend and in the spring of 1926 he came up from Toronto to view the place. He realized immediately that Grandview had immense potential for recreation for adults and children alike. He booked a reservation and brought the family, including me at age two and a half, for a stay that summer. In the succeeding years my mother, brother, sister and I would stay for six weeks returning to Toronto in time for the Canadian National Exhibition.

As there was regular train service to the Sparrow Lake station at Port Stanton at that time, my father came up weekends and later for a holiday to spend the days fishing. After his retirement he enjoyed eighteen more summers at Grandview with his fishing pals.

After my teens my visits to Sparrow Lake were curtailed, but I was able to be at Grandview often enough to meet the girl I would marry. Now that I am also retired, my wife Pat and I can enjoy long summers there.

Although since boyhood I have known a little about the other resorts, my postcard collection stimulated me to pursue a more thorough study of all the hotels and lodges that have dotted the shores of Sparrow Lake. As a result I have become much more aware of the local history and of the people who are part of it. This book is for all those who like me, find that Sparrow Lake always beckons one to return.

B.M.M.

1998

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

While my name appears as the author of this book, there are many people who enabled me to write it and to get it into print. As a novice in this field, their assistance was vital to the completion of my task.

I am grateful to David E. Stanton, President of the Sparrow Lake Historical Society for providing me with historical background of Port Stanton and of nearby Massey (Sparrow Lake) Camp. Both David, and James R. Stanton, Vice President of the Sparrow Lake Historical Society, helped me with the history and development of the resorts of Port Stanton as well as the role of the early Stanton Steamers in the emerging tourism of Sparrow Lake.

My thanks indeed to Doris Muckle for allowing me to peruse and refer to appropriate sections of her family history which provided insight into the early years of life on Sparrow Lake, and as well, of the Franklin family and of Franklin House, an early resort on Sparrow Lake.

I must acknowledge the accounts of early pioneer life, including those of families that settled in the Sparrow Lake area, many of whom spawned Sparrow Lake resorts, provided by A Legacy Almost Lost – An Anthology of Kilworthy Country. This book published by the Kilworthy Historical Society and ably coordinated by B. Elizabeth Chish-Graham was an invaluable resource to me.

I could not have done without all those who reviewed what I had written on the various Sparrow Lake resorts and made corrections or provided further background or anecdotes. Those who helped me include: Hazel Carney (Bennett’s Hotel, Idlylwild), Jean and Stanley Clipsham (Clipsham Lodge, Lakeview Hotel), Robert E. Clipsham (Uneeda Rest) who also loaned me several of his postcards, Bill Darker (Roehl’s Hotel, Grandview Lodge, Vanomi), David Long (Wenona Lodge), Jack Tresidder (Torpitt