Annandale, MN, Clearwater Lake, Beecher’s Resort #1, ca 1950s

Annandale, MN, Clearwater Lake, Beecher’s Resort #1, ca 1950s

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12 Responses to Annandale, MN, Clearwater Lake, Beecher’s Resort #1, ca 1950s

  1. Linda A Ciccolone says:

    I ran across this blog when checking the spelling for my Dad’s Autobiography. My Mom and Dad Honeymooned at the Beechers after their Marriage in Minneapolis on June 16, 1947. My Dad was quite famous at the time, winning the Mr. America contest. They only had 3 days there but loved it very much. His name was Alan Stephan and his Autobiography, I hope to have out, for what would have been his 100th birthday April 25, 2024. The name of his Autobiography is “Spectrum of a Body Builders Life”.
    He mentions the Beechers in his book and had many happy memories, of the short time they spent there.
    Thank you for posting your blog which truly helped in this trip down memory road.

  2. MS Wayne says:

    My family went to Beechers! Four kids ages 2 to 10ish. I have home movies of my dad water skiing, the paddle wheel, remember the kids’ dining room had chocolate milk! I taught my kids and grandkids about flour bomb fights!

    My memories of Beechers are vivid and happy!

    I would like to go back for seniors camp and would live every activity just as it was!

  3. John LeBlanc says:

    Thank you everyone for your fun comments and memories. Beecher’s is an incredible place. We just finished 8 weeks of summer camp for people with disabilities. We are pleased to have served about 50 campers per week this year with no positive cases of Covid-19 in campers!

  4. Dr. Barbara Rosenow von Schlegell says:

    Hello Jahanara! Greetings of peace from Barbara (Sahar) Rosenow von Schlegell. We met you and your good husband one year at Orr Hot Springs in Ukiah, CA and I was able to be with your Mom in her last years in Berkeley. Our family – the John H. Rosenow, MD form Edina – came to Beecher’s at least from 1952 – 1966. We stayed in what I think was Cabin R – perfect for our name, overlooking the lake. We all loved it. Fond memories all around, especially of Brook Beecher, who used to call me his Little Sheba and swim with me for hours. And the lovely lodge, decorated in elegant green and white stripe – we did most of our own cooking but when we got to eat at the lodge we loved the separate kids’ room. Bingo! Campfire songs! Fishing for sunnies! I was sad I was JUST old enough to waterski the year it closed! I loved hanging around the fish shack on the water – the smells, the fish cleaning, nice older guys. All the kids activities – hikes, sliding down the giant gravel pit, camping overnight, the carnival (where I sold kisses at a booth), the great teeter totters at the kids’ playground, Sunday services in the precious little church, buying candy at the lodge, horseshoes. I am not shy: I won the costume contest every year of my life except once. Mrs. Beecher (rest in peace and God’s love!) said one time, “One year I expect this girl to come drenched in tomato juice!” I was Girl Friday, a Bubble Dancer, a tube of Stripe toothpaste, Little Bo Peep’s Sheep (that one involved being covered in shaving cream and cork black on my hands and feet). I hope to visit the area on my midwestern road trip this fall!

  5. jahanara Romney says:

    HELLO TO ANYBODY HERE. I was Bonnie Beecher I just decided to look up Beechers resort tonight because it would have been my father Art Beechers 119th birthday. I’m delighted to see someone remembers and to see the pictures. I am remembering Sam Klein who was our maintenance person. He cut blocks of ice out of the lake in the summer and stored them in one of the barns covered with sawdust.. In the summer he would take the blocks of ice on a wheelbarrow to put in the ice boxes in each cabin. He used to let me ride on the wheelbarrow..

    • Betsy Coale Clewett says:

      Hello, Bonnie!
      My family travelled to Beecher’s in the 1950s from Cedar Falls, Iowa for 2 weeks of sunshine, fishing and lakeside cabin life. I was four to ten years old, and loved every minute of cabin life, dinners in the lodge, Bingo (I won a stationery set), and the first Creamsicles sold commercially. I remember one summer’s special children’s program, led by a youth group: a pirate theme complete with costumes, scavenger hunt, picnics, and games. Of course there was fishing, but I was too compassionate to bait my hook. Too magical for words. Happy memories!

    • Mary Anne Lindgren Nutter says:

      Hi, Bonnie! I remember you from when I worked at your parents’ resort one summer. I think you were 16 that summer. It was a beautiful place. The crew called ourselves Beechers’ Creatures. I remember that at the end of the season we got to eat all the ice cream that was left in the freezers! I am very impressed and happy for you at the success you have had in your career!

    • Richard Collins says:

      Wow – I never expected to see you here! My family (Dr. Robert Collins from Council Bluffs, IA,) were regulars from late 40’s well into the 60’s. We always had one of the A – E cabins. Our 2 week visits in late August is still one of my favorite childhood memories! One summer -1957 – my twin brother and I spent a month at Camp Owanka(sp) the Boelter camp on Clearwater and then right to Beechers! So many really cool memories such as a dance we had upstairs in one of the employee buildings – I think – and you asked me to dance, Needless to say I was pretty nervous!!
      What fun!

  6. JOYce (Seabaugh) Ochs says:

    Wow! Like Barbara, above, I just looked up Beecher’s Resort, and found this wonderful site! My family, Dr. Seabaugh’s, went there every summer for two weeks. We stayed in Cabin #1 also, every year! I think we were there the first two weeks of July each year, probably from the late forty’s throughout the fifties I have such great memories of our time there! The wonderful lodge for our meals, Bingo, movies, etc. I remember that, if our dad’s caught fish, that the cooks would fry it up for our dinner entry. I remember it being SO COLD when we would first get up in the morning but by the time breakfast was over, we’d put on our swimsuits.

    I can picture the whole Beecher family and how nice they were to their guests!
    Thanks for the memories!

  7. Barbara (Saddler) Georgi says:

    Such wonderful memories! Don’t know what made me look up Beecher’s tonight but SO glad I did. And Seeing a picture of “Our” cabin with the view of beautiful Clearwater Lake. Thank you! We drove from Omaha every summer in the late 40’s-early ‘50s …remember going fishing with my Dad and the chef cooking my tiny Crappie for lunch. The movies at the Lodge – ‘It happened on Fifth Avenue”, and “Swiss Family Robinson”, and Bingo, and the fishing guide named ‘Grit’ who chewed tobacco. And my favorite dessert every night Butterscotsh Sundae! Bonnie Beecher and I became friends, and I had a ‘crush’ on Ted, the cute teenager who mowed the grounds in front of the cabins – but never seemed to notice me :-(. I could go on but! I’m just about out of space…
    Anyway, Ren – Thanks for re-inspiring my memories! Barbara

  8. Greg Hazen says:

    My mother worked at Beecher’s around 1953. She’ll be very happy that you’ve posted these photos. Thank you so much.

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