HISTORICALLY SPEAKING | Winona Lake
e k a L a n o n i W
What A History,
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by Ray Balogh | photos by villageatwinona.com and visitkosciuskocounty.org
Almost a century after its first heyday, Winona Lake has been experiencing a communitywide renaissance, thanks in large part to the lavish generosity of the late Dane Miller and his wife, Mary Louise, who is still administrating the foundation (the Dane & Mary Louise Miller Foundation Inc.) they established in 1991.
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LAKElife Magazine June 2022
he Winona Lake area sprang to life in the late 1880s when enterprising dairy farmer J.F. Beyer and his brothers bought a 160-acre parcel on the eastern shore of what was then known as Eagle Lake. The allure was enticed by the utility of several artesian springs they employed as natural refrigeration. In 1887 the brothers, convinced the area had tourism potential, built the Spring Fountain Park resort, which included a hotel, racetrack, and roller coaster. They sold the resort in 1894 to Dr. Solomon Dickey, a Presbyterian church leader who envisioned the area as a religious retreat center. Over the next two decades,
