Collection Order

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Island 1937

Description: Front: Script in upper right reads, The Island, Winona Lake, Ind.Back: Body of message reads, Tues P.M. Winona Lake, Ind. Dear Betsy: We arrived here safely Sat. P.M. It really is a beautiful place. Part of the lake looks like the Ohio River, the picture just shows a part. It is 90 ft. deep in some places and 7 mi. long. I am enjoying the school of sacred music. Tell Dean that the puffed wheat did not make me pope. Write and tell me the news if you have time. Love Edith. Addressed to, Miss Betsy Barnett, Pleasureville, Kentucky.
Edith writes that Winona Lake (the body of water) is 90 feet deep and 7 miles long. Actually, Winona Lake and its branch Little Eagle is about 80 feet at its deepest point and covers about 538 acres.McDonald Island is a man made island. This land was formerly a peninsula of low ground with marshy edges. John Thorpe, a Chicago landscape architect devised a plan to improve the value of this ground. In the Spring Fountain days there was a horse driving park, and horse race track with sheds and ballgrounds with a 1,000 seat grandstand. The Beyer Brothers held agriculture fairs here. Thorpes plan included dredging a canal, spreading the two feet of dredge materials and lowering the lake level one foot to provide 300 building lots. Alexander McDonald, the President of Standard Oil of Kentucky, paid for the dredging and the steel bridges needed to complete the project. The dredging required two passes of the steam powered dredge removing a 25 foot wide strip each time. The dredging was started in 1901.
Origin: 1937-08-18
Created By: C. T. American Art (Published by Winona Souvenir & Novelty Shop, Winona Lake, Ind.)
Source: http://palni.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15705coll8/id/468
Collection: Grace College - Winona Lake Postcards
Copyright: Contact Morgan Library, Winona Lake, IN for copy and usage permissions
Geography: Winona Lake (Ind.)
Subjects: Island

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