Main St Boathouses in Lakeside Park

Lakeside Park was originally a swampland and not at all what it appears today. The following pictures were taken by Langdon Divers, and show what the park was like in the early days.

Langdon was standing on the edge of Main St., (about where the train engine is now) and these boathouses are just to the east of Main St.  If you look closely, you can barely make out the top of the bandstand just behind the second row of boathouses.

Here is a summer photo of the same boathouses, but with all of the growth that clearly defines the channels through the swampland.

This photo shows the newly constructed stone bridge, which is easily recognizable today.

Old Lakeside Park

Few people loved Lakeside Park as much as Fond du Lac native Langdon Divers. He had a camera with him in the early 1920's, rode bikes around the lake in the summer, and went ice-boating in the winter.  Thanks to his collection of photos, we know that there were free swimming schools, and the swimming 'chute' was rebuilt after a summer storm. All of the following photos were taken in the early 1920's.

This is a photo of the first 'chute' built for swimmers into Lake Winnebago.

This photo shows the walkway leading to the chute.

Here Langdon took a shot of the walkway in the winter time. Dated Jan. 1925.

Who, but Langdon Divers, would take a camera to the top of the 60 foot chute, and take a picture of the actual chute as a friend obviously landed in the water. Dated July 12, 1921.

Another winter scene on the lake, showing a large ice-skating scene in 1922.

Ice boats on the lake by the chutes