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The
History of Northern Lights Lodge
We recently
developed an interest in the origin of the resort and set out
to research the resort's history. It has been an interesting
task and we hope to continue to learn new information about
history of the resort and its guests. We traced land ownership
back to 1888.
The resort
was founded in 1947 when John and Anna Janko bought the property.
The Janko's named the resort Coral Ridge Resort because the
sands of our beach here reminded them of the sandy shores of
Florida. The Janko's built the original five cabins (1, 2, 4,
5 and 6) and the lodge. At one time, cabin #6 was the home of
the Janko family. Frank passed away in 1967 and Anna sold the
resort in 1970. We recently one of Anna's nephews who spent
his summers here at the resort and we hope to work with him
to learn more.
Frederick and
Jean Arnold bought the resort in October of 1970. During their
time here at the resort they built the "screen house"
found in the playground. I recently visited with Mr. Arnold
who still lives here in Ely and he described this time as some
of the happiest years of his life. The Arnold's owned the resort
for almost nine years.
James and Georgia
Ward bought the resort in July of 1979. They owned the resort
for less than a year and they sold the property to Jack and
Gayle Meskill and Frank and Betty Salerno in June of 1980.
In December
of 1981, Jim and Kathie Rusk bought the resort. The Rusk's added
the front addition of the lodge and in 1992 the Rusks built
cabins #11 and 12. After 19 years here on Bear Island Lake,
the Rusks decided to sell the resort.
Enter the Vogt
family in 2001!
In 1998, we
decided that we were ready to "work for ourselves"
and after carefully reviewing our options and our skills we
decided that resorting was the perfect fit. We spent the next
2 1/2 years looking for "the right resort". After
more 100,000 miles and after looking at more than 200 resorts
an Ely area realtor told us about Northern Lights Lodge.
We visited
the resort in January of 2001, made an initial offer about a
week later while vacationing in Florida and concluded the purchase
in April of 2001. Since purchasing the resort, we have built
the shop, cabin #3 and two storage buildings. During the fall
of 2003 we began to put together our next major project the
PINES which was completed in July of 2004.
Resort life
is nearly everything we expected and we truly appreciate the
opportunity to raise our son here in the beautiful northwoods
of the Superior National Forest.
Your Hosts,
The Vogts
Gary, Marie and Gary Jr. (JR)
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