Take a trip back in time to Merle Beach

By Rhonda Westfall

Mosquitoes drone on the banks of Merle Beach today – most likely as they have since time began. Not so very long ago, though, other sounds filled the twilight on a summer’s evening. Music and laughter were in the air when the Merle Beach Hotel and dancehall was a popular gathering spot at Muskrat Lake, located on Pratt Road Road, just west of Airport Road in Olive Township.

The following article was published in the 1980 History of Clinton County, written by the late Cleo Desprez. After reading it, why not take a drive out to Merle Beach, use your imagination and take a mental trip back in time.

Beyond the buzzing insects you may still hear dancing feet, clapping hands and music in the air.

Nov. 4, 1836, Daniel Ferguson received by land grant from the General Land Office of the U. S. of America, the N. E. 1/4 and the S. E. 1/2 of the N. W. 1/4 of Section 18-6-2. It was described as being partially bounded by some body of water. It consisted of 53 to 57 acres. The patent was dated Nov. 2, 1837. Martin Van Buren was President.

It was a forest of black-walnut, maple, butternut, hickory, black-cherry, beech, basswood, sycamore, ironwood, black, white and burr oak trees. In the spring the wild plum, crab apples and grapes made the forest beautiful and fragrant. Bees were everywhere providing settlers and Indians with honey and wax for candles. Wild berries, fruit and nuts were gathered in the fall. There were many types of animals in the forest for hunting.

Orange Ferguson owned land on the east and south side of this body of water.

In 1855, he sold it to his brother, Daniel Ferguson. He had a millpond in this area and reserved the right to any land over which the lake flowed by ten feet, at low waters mark. He also had the right of way to the road north of this land which followed an Indian Trail on the high bank.

This area was camping grounds for Indians. The creek leading out of the lake (Stoney Creek) to the east was one of their favorite places.

The road on the high bank became known as Jason Road. The lake was finally given the name Muskrat Lake. It had many muskrats in it. The smaller lake to the southeast was simply called Little Lake. Muskrats are still trapped from the marshes and both lakes. Their fur is known as Hudson Seal. Both lakes were good fishing lakes.

April 27, 1895, Richard Moore bought this land from the Daniel Ferguson family heirs. Oct. 2, 1895, Richard Moore deeded it to his wife Kittie E. Moore. The marital status of the grantor is not known. They had a daughter, Myrtille.

Kittie Moore built the Merle Beach Hotel in 1898. On May 24, 1898, Kittie Moore was appointed first postmaster in this area. The post office was in the hotel, but was closed Oct. 31, 1900, and reopened at another site in September 1903.

Aug. 11, 1913, Kittie Moore and her daughter, Myrtelle Moore Canavan sold the hotel and 57 acres to Charles Dean and wife, Lula. He had been sheriff of Clinton County. A brief description of the property included bedroom furniture, dining tables, chairs, dishes and silver.

It also gave water privileges to a large 2,000-gallon water tank and windmill on the north side of west Jason Road as long as they owned the land it was on and kept the water supply in good repair. The water was piped deep underground and under the road so that it didn't freeze. It was used in the hotel kitchen.

The Merle Beach Hotel was so named because of the substance known as merle that was in the banks and marshes surrounding the lakes. It made good fertilizer. Some of the nearby neighbors used it. At one time there were plans to form a company and sell it, but it proved too expensive.

The Hotel was a large long building running east and west on the north side of

Muskrat Lake near the road. It was two stories with a porch across the west end. A central hall down the center of the building divided the five bedrooms on the south side from a large room and a living room on the north side. A wide stairway at the east end of the hall on the south side led to the top floor.

The large north room was a community room and office. At the end of the hall to the south was another larger living room. A huge dining room in the northeast corner of the building could seat 75 people. The kitchen opened off the dining room to the south. The ice house was across the east end of the building. The hotel was heated by five stoves, three downstairs and two in the top floor. It had carbide lights.

The top story was a dance hall with a very good floor. A balcony was around the top floor on the north, west and south sides. It had two stairways leading to the ground and four doors to the dance floor. Many windows and these doors provided good ventilation for large crowds. The music could be heard outdoors, too.

The attached ice house was of boards, 36x16 feet, double sided for insulation with sawdust. Ice was always cut from Muskrat Lake to fill it. Neighbors with ice houses generally had other neighbors help them fill their ice houses. Everyone then had ice to use in the summer for homemade ice cream and to use for reunions and picnics. Ice was sawed in squares when the ice was eight inches or thick. It was drawn by teams and sleighs and packed in sawdust in the ice houses.

The lawn was very nice for croquet and had picnic tables and chairs. A long dock extended out into the lake.

The stable was a long building to the west of the hotel. It was sometimes so full of horses they injured each other. One horse had to be killed. They cut his throat because no one had a gun. People raced their horses and buggies from St. Johns and DeWitt. It was considered great fun.

The beach was never very good as the current kept washing the sand and gravel out. The natural shore is muck. There was and still is a small hard beach on the south side of the lake. Fishing has always been good.

Oct. 2, 1916, Lula Dean sold to Amos and Lena Palmer. She received the land where the hotel was located. Amos put a barbershop and store in the large northwest room. It was a gathering place for neighborhood men to spend evenings and rainy days. They talked of politics, debts, crops, and weather. They also played cards.

Amos Palmer died and his wife, Lena now owned the property. In 1936 she gave the Toledo Pipe Line Company the right to lay their gas pipeline across the land. Lena passed away and the estate passed to her daughter, Dora May Stevens, and her husband, Charles E. Stevens, in 1952.

There had always been private and public dances at the Merle Beach dance hall. In the early ‘20s, the population had increased and with the automobile, there was a demand for more public dances. Mr. Stevens bought generators so he had his own electric lights.

Charles Stevens started dances every Saturday night. At first the music was furnished by neighbors, then musicians were brought in from Lansing and St. Johns. The Depression made everyone appreciate a good time and musicians took every job they could get.

The dance floor accommodated 35 to 50 squares of dancers. Tickets were 25-cents, and only men paid; 300 tickets were sold some Saturday nights. Numbers were called for square dances. Mr. Stevens said he cleared at least $75 each week. This was a good income at that time.

The dances started at nine o'clock in the evening and continued until three o'clock a.m. he midnight lunches were well attended. They were famous for their hot beef sandwiches. They also served chicken dinners on Sundays.

There was always a deputy sheriff at the dances. Generally it was Phillip Waltz, a neighbor.

One of the young men of the neighborhood attending these dances was Arnold Stevens. He was not related to Charles Stevens. Arnold liked to play his violin and saxophone. Mr. Stevens formed a dance band called the Rhythm Makers. Many young musicians got a good start in this dance band. They played in many other towns throughout the passing years. Mr. Stevens is now active in Senior Citizen Music groups.

Some of the musicians who played at Merle Beach Dances were Herb Johnson, Cliff Plowman, Frank Jones, Elston Miller, Max Huntoon, Margaret Woodruff Ernst, Robert Reninger, Jack Gallagar, Merlin Rahl, Alien Hill, R. G. Hyde and Clive Warren. A few of the callers were Virgil Lewis, Berton Patterson and Sam Sherwood.

In 1957, Charles Stevens and his wife Dora had both passed away and her heirs now owned the old Merle Beach Hotel. It was 59-years-old and showed its age. Don and Shirley Foote, Real Estate dealers bought it in late 1957.

In 1958, Mr. Foote gave the hotel to a neighbor, Glenn Weaver, if he would tear it down and dispose of it. They had been in World War II together. The building had been vandalized and was condemned. Mr. Weaver sold everything he couldn't use. The piano was junked but the dance floor was in good condition. He sold that to a man from the Upper Peninsula for a dance floor. It was tongue and groove hardwood. The benches were sold to a Mr. Boles for a church he was interested in finishing. There were 14 outside doors and some of them were sold.

The wall of the dance hall cloakroom had this written on it: "Lumber sawed by Potters Mill, Pompeii in 1897. Hauled by horse and wagon to Muskrat Lake. Building built in 1898."

The hotel was 30x80 feet and was 22 feet in height (eaves to ground). The dance floor was held up by 120 beams, 2x12 planks, in good condition. The building rested on large stones. There was no basement but a trap door was in the kitchen floor. It had some bottles of dandelion wine hanging in it. The wine was good but not dated, so no one knows how long it had been there. Bees had taken over much of the building and didn't give up easily. They did provide delicious honey for some neighbors.

Mr. Weaver used the lumber to build hog houses on his mother's farm, east of Muskrat Lake.

In 1966, the State of Michigan bought Muskrat Lake for a public fishing and hunting area. It has a boat ramp, gravel parking lot and restrooms.

It took 130 years for this tract of land and body of water to return to government ownership. There are some of the same kind of animals, trees, wild fowl and fish, but less of them. It has been reduced to 45 acres but gained one thing: a name, Muskrat Lake.