Antique 1896 Picturesque Souvenir of [Big] Spirit and Okoboji Lakes, Dickinson County, Iowa Great Lakes ~ Summer Resort ~ History

Title: Picturesque Souvenir of Spirit and Okoboji Lakes [Iowa]

Description: Blue cloth boards with a decorative string-tied binding. Gilt stamped title on front cover. Boards show general wear and soiling, gilt dulled. Previous owner's name rubber stamped in front paste-down. Title page has small penciled notation in top corner A few leaves show a some incidental smudging, else generally clean. Fifty plates with photographic images, plus title page. 51 ff. 8 x 6 inches. Five institutional copies located on OCLC (Iowa State U, U of Mich, SMU, Columbia Univ, Sterling and Frances Clark Art Institute). Scarce.

An 1896 collection of photographic images from the Spirit and Okoboji Lakes (in Dickinson County, Iowa). Many of the images show people enjoying their recreations on the lakes, plus scenes from camps, beaches, hotels, cottages and lodges, the chautauqua grounds, main street and some notable buildings in the city of Spirit Lake, and farmland around the lakes. A wonderful piece of memorabilia from this popular summer resort area in a bygone era.

Summary of images: BCR&N Depot, Hotel Orleans, the lake boat ''Queen,'' Templar Park, a Knights Templar gathering, Crandall's Lodge & beach, Hawkeye Camp at Minnewaukon (Mini-Wakan) Beach, the Chautauqua grounds, Spirit Lake main street, the Opera House block, three Spirit Lake churches, the Dickinson County Bank, Miller's Bay seen from nearby summit, Manhattan Beach and resort, the Willow Mere Cottage (exterior and interior), Cottage of J. V. Rider, Egralharve Cottage (exterior, interior and mineral springs), Cottage of F. W. Barron at Crescent Beach, a Howard's Bay cottage, Omaha Beach, Clark's Cottage at Ft. Dodge Point, Green's Cottage, Des Moines Beach, the Okoboji Bridge, Pillsbury Point, camping at Arnold's Park, camps at Pillsbury Point, and the CRI&P train.

[The photographer is presumed to be Orville McKim Morris (1858-1936), who operated a photography studio in Chicago in the early 1890s and relocated to Davenport sometime around 1897, where he owned a business called the Morris Penny Picture Gallery. By 1903, he moved the business to Evanston, Illinois and remained in business there into the early 1930s.]

Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good–

Publisher: O. M. Morris
Place: Spirit Lake, Iowa
Year: 1896

Keywords: history, Dickinson County, Iowa, Okoboji Lake, Big Spirit Lake, Iowa Great Lakes, historic, resorts, chautauqua, Midwest, Arnolds Park, Pillsbury Point, summer vacation, Orville McKim Morris,