Wicker Resort

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GoogleEarth image (January 2023) looking south on Orchard Island, as in the aerial photograph. The empty green area in the foreground is where the Wicker Resort used to be. Fox Island is to the left and part of Wolff Island is visible on the right; the elongated island in between is Post Office Island where the post office that used to be by the hotel is now located.

Frank and Isabella Wicker purchased the one-hundred room hotel and the fifty room hotel annex on Orchard Island in 1932. The main hotel had fallen into disrepair as the Great Depression reduced the number of guests, and the Wickers had it torn down. They continued operating the Annex, which became known as the hotel, as well as the cottages and the grocery store, and converted the colosseum into a roller rink.

The Wicker Hotel and Resort advertised itself as Indian Lake’s complete vacation spot, with a beautifully landscaped waterfront, private beach, modern waterfront cottages, boat docks, restaurant and bar. Families from around the country visited and enjoyed the privacy afforded by the property and its beach.

Frank Wicker passed away in 1939. His wife Isabella continued operating the resort. In the early 1940s she added an L-shaped addition to the grocery store to serve as dining facility for guests. The hotel was renovated in 1950 and in the 1960s three more cottages were added. In 1979, Mrs. Wicker’s private residence was destroyed by fire. Isabella Wicker passed away in 1989, fifty years after her husband. Family members continued to operate the resort for some years, but ultimately closed the entire resort in the early 1990s. Jim Dicke, owner of the Crown Equipment Corporation in New Bremen, purchased the property and had the buildings razed and the land returned to its natural state, in which it remains to this day. The only buildings that survived are the colosseum, which was dismantled and rebuilt in New Bremen, and the original Orchard Island Post Office, which was in use from 1912 until 1926. The Post Office building was donated to the Indian Lake Area Historical Society by the Wicker family. After restoration, the Post Office was relocated to Dredge Island, or Post Office Island, between Orchard and Wolf islands.

Aerial views of Orchard Island. The top-left photograph is looking towards the north-west with Wolff in the background. The colosseum is in the center of the this photograph; the U-shaped hotel annex is to the right and behind what appears to be a large billboard. Near the water front are the cottages belonging to the Wicker Resort. The other two views are looking more towards the south. The blurry lines diagonally across the photographs were caused by the bracing of the airplane wings interfering with the picture being taken.

*View of the lake from the Hotel Veranda.*

Like all other larger hotels around the lake the Wicker Resort had a private sand beach for use by guests. The sand was shipped in by the truckload – Iam not sure how often the sand had to be replenished.

Interior views of the cottages at the Wicker Resort. The postcard on the right shows a partial view of the beautiful and spacious living room in the ultra- modern waterfront cottages, and the postcard on the left shows a partial view of the compact yet spacious, bedroom. The wall-to-wall wood paneling, the unpainted wooden doors, and the linoleum floors were the typical cottage-look in the 1950s and 1960s. The tan-colored furniture, with matching curtains, and modern table and lamps, complemented this mid-century look.

The Indian Lake Historical Society gives the following information: “The Orchard Island Post Office was in operation to serve the south side of Indian Lake from July 29, 1912, to November 15, 1926. It was originally located on the water’s edge at the Wicker Resort. The only Postmistress at the Orchard Island Post office was Ruby Tarr. Mrs. Tarr’s husband, Alexander, was the owner of the Orchard Island Resort until he sold it in 1927 to Orchard Islands Inc. After the Orchard Island Post Office closed, the side windows were cut out and it was used as a pop stand and later as a bait store at the Wicker Resort. In 2004, the building was donated to the newly established Indian Lake Area Historical Society by Isabelle Wicker Pusey. The building was then moved from the former Wicker property to its present location on the recently named Post Office Island site between Wolf and Orchard Islands. In 2016, teams of residents and volunteers from the Indian Lake Area Historical Society came together to restore the former Orchard Island Post Office that had fallen into disrepair. With donations from the Indian Lake Development Corporation and the ODNR, everyone came together to restore the building.”

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