A half-century ago, 11 young Minnesota families joined together to make a collective dream come true. Each had hopes of owning their own vacation lake home, but financial reality stood in their way. Instead, they pooled their resources to buy an old fishing resort 7 miles east of Hayward, Wis.
Wildwood Lodge opened in the 1920s on 12 acres of pristine waterfront property, half of which form a peninsula. Its 10 rustic log cabins and a lodge building were the first structures ever erected on Round Lake. Little was done to modernize it over the next four decades, and by the mid-1960s the resort could no longer compete with the newer tourist destinations in the area. On April 1, 1966, the Minnesota group bought it and renamed it the Wildwood Lodge Club.
The families occupied the original buildings for the next 15 years — in the company of lots of mice and bats — while developing a close-knit communal relationship. Several families came and went until the early 1980s, when seven remained. A group decision was then made to breathe new life into Wildwood. The original cabins were torn down and the property was subdivided, giving each of the households their own tract to build on. Two of them salvaged the best of the leftover materials to construct reconstituted cabins, while the rest built new houses.
A reunion was held at Wildwood over the recent July 4th weekend. Nearly 200 past and present members of this unique extended family that now spans three generations gathered to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Wildwood Lodge Club has been called one of those rare projects in life that turns out better than expected. Its future is rooted in its distinctive past.
Greg Magnuson, Apple Valley
