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Local History

Recreation

Hawks Grove and LaBelle Resort

During the 1870s, E. L. Hawks acquired a 20-acre parcel of land on a broad peninsula at the south end of Gull Lake and called it Hawks Grove. Later called LaBelle, the resort hosted thousands of pleasure seekers for dining, dancing, and outdoor fun.

USTA Boys Tennis Tournament

August 2022 will mark the 80th year that Kalamazoo plays host city to the United States Tennis Association’s National Championship for 16-18 year-old boys. The tournament is staged over ten…

Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery

For millennia the supply of fish in Michigan’s lakes and waterways seemed inexhaustible. By the 1870s, however, deforestation and overfishing had begun to take its toll. State-run hatcheries at Paris,…