Hawks Grove & LaBelle Resort

Early Summertime Playgrounds at Gull Lake

For most Kalamazooans, Gull Lake was a little-known gem before the 1860s. After the Civil War, however, it gradually became a favored destination for fishing, picnicking, and other outdoor activities. “The waters of this lake are deep, cold and very pure,” wrote the Gazette, and “there is no marsh or lake smell about it.” From church groups numbering in the hundreds to families or a few friends, folks began to venture out to the lake during the warm weather months to enjoy some time in the great outdoors.

“I confess to strong proclivities for fishing, which were indulged by a trip, some three miles north from the ‘corners,’ to the head waters of Gull Lake, a splendid body of water, abounding in all the usual varieties of lake fish, and all ready and willing to ‘bite,’ as a string of thirty nice bass and perch caught by ‘Yours, &c.’ fully demonstrated.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 3 June 1859

One of the first white settlers in the Gull Lake area was Tillotson Barnes, who built a dam across Gull Creek (the outlet at the south end of the lake near Yorkville) to power his sawmill and gristmill. Over the years, further damming of the creek raised the water level in the lake enough to help stabilize it and made the surrounding shoreline desirable for boating and recreation.

Hawks Grove

Elnathan Lorenzo Hawks (1833-1927) was born in 1833 in Oswego County, New York. He arrived in Michigan with his parents about 1841 and lived with his family in Otsego until 1857 when he married Jeannette “Jennie” McKenzie (1832-1904). The couple moved to Decatur, where Hawks went into the jewelry and watch repair business. During the 1870s, Hawks acquired a 20-acre parcel of land on a broad peninsula at the south end of Gull Lake near the outlet and called it Hawks Grove.

But getting to Gull Lake during the 19th century wasn’t an easy journey. Before the railroad lines were built, a “drive” by horse and carriage (or hay wagon) was a day-long venture. A railroad line from Allegan to Battle Creek reached Yorkville in 1883, and while a Chicago, Kalamazoo & Saginaw connection at Richland Junction a few years later made rail travel from Kalamazoo possible, it was still inconvenient. Before the electric interurban opened in 1900, the easiest way to get there was to take the Michigan Central steam train to Augusta, then hire a liveryman to drive your group to the lake and back by horse and wagon.

Despite travel difficulties, the popularity of Hawks Grove grew steadily. His 20 acres of wooded shoreline boasted “one of the best (water) wells in the state” (Gazette) and could accommodate hundreds of visitors. As trade grew, Hawks built a substantial dance hall on his property and several rather nice cottages.

While Hawks worked on his property, George Harmon Wilson developed a companion camping resort, dance hall, and rowboat service along the southeastern shore of the lake called Camp St. Louis. (This later became a resort known as The Allendale.) Hawks Grove and Camp St. Louis were among the first resorts of their kind on Gull Lake and both proprietors worked hard to develop the area. Wilson promoted the camping facilities while Hawks had charge of his boat service, and dances were held at one place or the other nearly every night.

Steamer “Crystal”

During the spring of 1880, Hawks built and launched a 61-foot steamer called “Crystal” and used it to ferry boatloads of passengers between resorts and around the lake for the tidy sum of 25 cents. The steamer, said to be large enough to carry 200 passengers, was at first headquartered at Camp St. Louis, then later moved to Hawks Grove (or Hawks Landing) on the peninsula. The hour-and-a-half excursion around the lake quickly became a popular attraction.

“Mr. Hawks has a fine summer resort with accommodations for 35 horses, good row boats, etc. Gull Lake is really one of the finest inland lakes in America.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 12 June 1885

Hawks continued to make improvements on his property throughout the 1880s. He built a hotel, brought in several additional boats, added more cottages, and opened a dancing school. The dancehall was fitted with a new stage where theatrical events could be held yet was easily removable when the dancing began. Special scenery was painted for the theater and a “first-class orchestra (was) engaged” (Gazette).

“It is not on the ocean beach or the lake shore where you will necessarily find the greatest rest and pleasure. Right at home at La Belle resort, Gull lake, is comfort, refreshment, cool breezes and health these hot days. Things have been changed here, under the best of management there is ample accommodation for all in cottages, and hotel with first-class table board at reasonable rates.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 19 June 1891

LaBelle Resort

E.L. Hawks retired in 1890 and sold the greater portion of his resort to a pair of investors from Richland. In 1893, he moved his jewelry and watch repair business to Galesburg, although he still enjoyed captaining his steamer “Crystal” around the lake during the warm weather months. Oscar Caldwell was managing the day-to-day business at the resort by then, which had been renamed LaBelle.

Caldwell made several improvements to the property over the coming years, including a newly graveled driveway and a new clubhouse. By then there were seven cottages in the grove, with ample accommodation for up to 60 boarders. Key to the success of the LaBelle Resort was its large dancehall with “good music… so that all (could) enjoy themselves to their hearts content” (Gazette).

“Lovers Lane”

In 1894, E.L. Hawks built a second smaller steamer named “Brownie,” which ferried small groups and private parties up and down the stream between LaBelle and the railroad depot at Yorkville. Piloted by Captain Dimick, the trip down “Lovers Lane” and under the big stone bridge was said to be “the most attractive and romantic part of the lake” (Gazette).

By 1897, the LaBelle Resort was known as “the leading resort of Southern Michigan” (Gazette). Three additional cottages were built, and a system of pressurized running water was piped throughout the park. The opening of the electric interurban railroad line ushered in a constant flow of Kalamazoo people, who claimed the accommodations there were “all that could be desired” (Gazette). Business was said to be better than ever.

But the first years of the new century would prove difficult for the LaBelle Resort. The electric interurban not only brought more visitors to Gull Lake but with it came more competition, and the property changed hands several times. In 1911, the Elks fraternal organization built a new 40-room inn at LaBelle, but dwindling patronage left the company heavily in debt. In June 1914, the hotel was closed for a time while the organization filed for bankruptcy.

Gull Lake Hotel

In 1921, the 20-acre resort was sold to Detroit investors Frank W. Holmes and J. O. Hearn, who intended to make some $40,000 worth of improvements. A new toboggan slide was added, and a new dancing pavilion was erected. The new Gull Lake Hotel would become a year-round attraction after a two-story addition in 1923 doubled its capacity.

By the mid-1920s the Gull Lake Hotel had become an entertainment hot spot. After the old Allendale “over the water” dance pavilion closed, Holmes purchased the structure and moved it to his property at LaBelle to be repurposed as a massive dining room with accommodation for 400. During the winter months, Workmen used a team of mules and log rollers to tow the 50 by 150-foot structure across the frozen lake to its new home. The 1924 season was to be the LaBelle Resort’s biggest year yet.

LaBelle Ballroom

But disaster struck in August 1925 when the hotel at the LaBelle Resort was destroyed by fire, resulting in a $75,000 loss. A new “fireproof” hotel made of concrete and stucco was built during the following winter, which opened in May 1926. Top name entertainment kept the newly enlarged dancehall filled nearly every night. E.L. Hawks passed away in March 1927 at the age of 93, while the resort he helped create a half-century earlier remained popular throughout the 1920s and 1930s, and especially so during the big band years before the Second World War when it was refurbished and renamed the LaBelle Ballroom.

LaBelle Gardens

By 1940, there was dancing every night in the Blue Room at LaBelle with music from heavyweight entertainers like Earl Gardner, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and others. Steak and chicken dinners were standard fare. The hotel closed for a time during the Second World War due to lack of help and supplies but was remodeled and freshly redecorated after the war under new ownership. Jack Teagarden and his Orchestra, Bobby Davidson, and others kept LaBelle Gardens jumping during the postwar years.

Gull Harbor Inn

In 1955, the historic Gull Lake Hotel was sold and reopened as a restaurant called the Gull Harbor Inn. Holiday magazine listed it as one of the four outstanding eating establishments in Michigan, but as time went on, it too had seen its day. The Gull Harbor Inn operated as such until 1978 when it was torn down to make way for residential development. “It’s the location which is historical, not the building,” said owner James Harris in a 1977 Kalamazoo Gazette article. “The building doesn’t have classic architecture, but the property has one of the best beaches on the lake.”

Like its companion, The Allendale, the area where Hawks Grove and the LaBelle Resort once greeted thousands of pleasure seekers a century-and-a-half ago is today a lakefront residential district along Labelle Terrace and South Gull Lake Drive. Aside from fading memories and a few old photographs, little else remains of the once popular lakeside resort.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, April 2024