Classic photos depict recreation up at the lakes during bygone eras

This unique array of photos depicts fun at the lake in bygone eras—including impressive water slide structures that once thrilled young and old alike. 

At  Dunn’s Lodge on Lake Lizzie, the water slide is in the foreground, as the photographer captured the splash in the waters of Lizzie.

Another water slide image is at old Shoreham, identified as “Pleasant Point House.” The photo’s date is unknown, right, but the caption states, “Swimming  Beach and shoot the chutes at Pleasant Point…” 

The giant water slide at the Detroit Lakes city park, date uncertain, shows the distinctive and iconic Detroit Lakes shoreline pavilion to the right.

Also pictured, a busy summer weekend—boats all in a row at Fair Hills Resort on Pelican Lake. The address is listed as “Detroit, Minnesota,” suggesting the photo dates to the early 1920s, before the “Lakes” was added to Detroit, bottom photo.

In Pelican Rapids city, there will be no water recreation at the old city pool for summer of 2023, as it has been demolished for the season. But by late summer 2024, a brand new aquatic center will be constructed—including a water slide, though not as high in elevation or dramatic as the rustic, vintage slides pictured in these photographs—courtesy the Tom Albright collection. 

—Louis Hoglund,
Press managing editor