The History of Lakeside

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In 1891 the Lakeside Hotel was built in the village of Detroit City on the south end of Lake Avenue, which at the time was the main road to travel from the Northern Pacific Railroad Station in downtown Detroit City down to Detroit Lake. The modest hotel and bar was the first main tourist attraction near the Lake while other hotels were located up near the railroad and downtown.

The original owners were two men who there is not much known about at this time. It was rumored that they may have obtained their money by the way of illegal means, possibly robbing banks stagecoaches or in high stakes poker. They brought their rough and ready personalities with them to Lakeside and created a name for it that stretched from Duluth to the Pacific.

Since Lakeside Hotel wasn’t as elegant and glamorous as the Hotel Minnesota or Lakes Hotel, it attracted some of the rougher crowds to its card tables and beds. Stories of missing railroad men vanishing into night (or possibly the lake) and young women disappearing with the trains were common in the late 1800’s, and if you didn’t have a hard right hand and quick wit you didn’t come to visit Lakeside Hotel.

As the village of Detroit City grew and sub-sequentially changed its name to Detroit Lakes, so did the Lakeside Hotel. Other businesses started moving down to the shores of what became know as Little Detroit Lake, Lakeside knowing it had to keep up with the Jones’, or as say up here the Oles’ and Svens’, Lakeside added cabins on the west side of the property in the area of the present volleyball court and to the north where the parking lot is currently located. Lakeside also added the first large dock on little Detroit; some might consider it the first marina in northern Minnesota.

As the first motorized vehicles started appearing in northern Minnesota Lakeside Hotel changed again into an even more tourist friendly business with strong support of the local community. Lakeside Hotel became Lakeside Lodge and it opened a confectionary (a candy store) in the main level of the lodge or where the present day bar is. The Lodge was a child’s dream, the shelves were full of hard sweets, fudge, toffee, taffy, tuffy, liquorices, jelly candies and of course chewing gum. It was there soon after World War II where tragedy struck the Lakeside Lodge when a little girl after eating one too many Turkish Delights tragically fell down the stairs from the upper level leading to the main entrance and died.

After the accident Lakeside Lodge became just another resort on the lake with new cabins and resorts springing up every year the Lakeside could not compete, and all of the children disappeared from the candy store windows in fear of the little girls ghost, which is said to haunt Lakeside even to this day. And so the old building sat for years deteriorating and becoming the eyesore of the lake, at one time it was know as Detroit’s Dump.

Then in the 1980’s new life was breathed into the building and over night it became the best place to hang out and party this side of the Mississippi. Lakeside Tavern as was now and currently called, sold 3.2 beers for cheap and fighting in the streets wasn’t that uncommon, this wasn’t your father’s crowd! With standing room for 20, hundreds of patrons would stuff themselves in like sardines just to party with the “in” crowd.

But just as the party was getting started it ended again with a new facelift for the hundred year old building and it became a fine dining restaurant in the 1990’s it was at this time that the height of strange occurrences and oddities could be seen and felt. The new owner had multiple exorcisms done on the building trying to figure out why the little girl, and it turns out two young men and 3 women, haunt the building and its customers. Although they never revealed the true nature of their haunting, it is suspected that they will not quit until the original building is torn down to the ground.

In the year 2000 a new owner came to Lakeside and took it upon himself to revitalize the business and party atmosphere of Lakeside that had been missing since the 1980’s. He also took a strong interest in the overall well being of the Detroit Lakes community and the economy of the area. Since then Lakeside has been a staple in providing good times and great events down at the lake, with events such as the Detroit Lakes Polar Fest and the Lakeside Tavern Bash on the Beach to name a few, you can forever be sure that a great time is always had at Lakeside Tavern.

Currently Lakeside has 24 tap beers, serves one of kind Colorado Deep Dish Pizza and some of the juiciest burgers this side of Hamburg, Germany. Minnesota’s number one peanut bar invites you to come down enjoy the sun, patio and a pizza and we’ll provide the great memories…who knows maybe you will be apart of the next chapter in the history of Lakeside Tavern.

-Meach