HISTORY OF
WOLVERINE
LAKE
1954—2004
Wolverine
Lake
was created from six small lakes; Spring, Mayie,
Pork Barrel, Bickling,
Taylor and Bradley, all surrounded by marsh land.
Dr. Howard Stuart was the man who conceived of
and gave birth to
Wolverine
Lake
.
The idea to build a dam came to Dr. Stuart one
spring day in 1914. While out walking that
spring day in 1914, he came upon the culvert that
crossed the road where the dam is now. The
culvert had filled with sand, making the water
back up, flooding the land south of the road. At
that time, he thought that the six small lakes,
surrounded by marsh, had possibly been one large
lake at one time.
They ran into another obstacle; the closing of a
section line road between Mayie and
Spring
Lake
. That road can still be seen today under the
water of
Wolverine
Lake
. The county
attorney advised them they would have to get all
the property owners to sign a petition to close
the road.
Construction of the dam finally began in the fall
of 1919 with the help of many men and
ten teams of horses. They encountered many
discouraging setbacks; like striking a hole at the
east end of the dam and filling in four feet of
dirt each day and having it sink four feet each
day, the raising and graveling of Benstein road at a cost of 6000 dollars, two lawsuits
wanting
damages and one wanting the dam taken out. Dr.
Stuart won each case including the last one
that went all the way to the State Supreme Court.
Finally, the dam was completed. The fill is 600
feet long, the concrete structure is 72 feet
across from one wing tip to the other. The main
body and spillway is 24 feet and constructed on
26 feet of marl. From the bottom of the
foundation to the top of the concrete it is 40 feet. One
side of the dam settled 9-3/4 inches in the first
month. They took levels for three years after that
and it never settled anymore.In making the lake, an island was formed on Dr. Stuart’s land. It is now
called Stuart’s
Oak Island.Dr. Stuart
can truly be called the Founding Father of
Wolverine
Lake
.
It is the nucleus and heart of the community. The
residents concern for their lake and the
desire to maintain control of it led to the
formation of the Consolidated Subdivision of Wolverine
Lake
. Eight separate subdivision associations joined
together in the early 40’s to form a more
viable political force. Attempts to divide the
lake and the surrounding community by annexation
or incorporation by the neighboring communities
led the Consolidated Subdivisions to try
for incorporation as a home rule Village in 1954.
A charter was approved by Governor G. Mennen
Williams on May 11, 1954 and adopted by the
voters on June 7, 1954.
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