Glover's boat house, Schimmer's Lake, Grand Island, Neb.
Description
Color postcard (14 x 9 cm) with a view entitled "Glover's Boat House, Schimmer's Lake, Grand Island, Neb" in red type at the top center of the card. This appears to be an artist's rendering. The view looks across a lake at a boat house with a porch surrounded by trees.
Martin Schimmer began excavating Schimmer Lake in section 32 of the Washington Township in Hall County, Nebraska along the banks of the Wood River in 1897-1898 and adjacent to the St. Joseph and Grand Island railroad. It was 20 acres in size with the primary purpose for the large production of ice but was used for recreation and fish production as well. In 1907 the Union Pacific cut 7,500 tons, or 300 carloads of Schimmer Lake ice and conveyed it to their own ice houses. Also in that year, Schimmer made improvements by building a dock for rowboats and a boat house, a cafe, a merry-go-round, an open air dance pavilion with bar and dance stand, and created a swimming hole that was deeper than the lake which was mostly 4 to 5 feet deep. On June 14, 1970, Schimmer's Lake area, newly converted into George H. Clayton Hall County Park, was dedicated. Source: Perry, Robert. Schimmer's Sand Krog: Resort on the Platte. Grand Island: Prairie Pioneer Press, 1984.
