The Sanitariums of Lake Geneva


Book Description

Delving into firsthand accounts, rediscovering evocative imagery, and intricately weaving together long-forgotten details about the Sanitariums of Lake Geneva, including insights into their founders, staff, and patients, Sonja Akright has vividly captured the intrigue – and enduring legacy – of these once-venerated, now-vanished institutions. Now she invites readers to journey through time and explore Lake Geneva’s upscale sanitariums. Nestled in the heart of the “Newport of the West,” these facilities housed and treated patients from the regional to the far-flung, from the anonymous to the renowned. Offering an immersive, nuanced perspective on experiences within these institutions, "The Sanitariums of Lake Geneva" serves as both a tribute to the past and as a rallying cry for preserving local history. Akright's passion for her subject shines throughout this compelling narrative of the past – a storied past that has etched the landscape and character of Lake Geneva. Akright’s years of meticulous archival research, dedication to historic preservation, and determination to bring the past to life are testament to the power of community-driven stewardship, a vital aspect of safeguarding, chronicling, and giving voice to our shared heritage for future generations.







Newspaper-Real Estate Schemes of the 1920s


Book Description

In the 1920s, newspapers and real estate developers colluded in a scheme to sell tiny vacation lots to subscribers. A zealous advertising campaign spawned a land-buying frenzy that sprouted dozens of waterfront summer colonies across the country. The resulting legal, social and environmental mayhem caused some of these communities to disappear or be drastically altered in character, while others managed to survive more or less intact. Drawing on newspaper accounts of the day, this book explores how the scheme eluded accusations of fraud, creating an assembly line for middle class resorts through a lucrative merger of real estate and journalism. Pell Lake, Wisconsin, serves as a case study that yields the best evidence for determining if it was all a scam. Told here for the first time, the story of this unusual alliance and the communities it created offers lessons for today's entrepreneurs, journalists, advertisers, real estate developers, environmentalists and anyone who has ever lived in a resort community.




Yesterday, Today, & Forever


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Shawneeawkee


Book Description