Remembering a Lake Campbell Retreat

BY JOHN KUBAL
The Brookings Register
After looking back over more than a century of history, the Lake Campbell Improvement Association this month dedicated a historical marker recalling the glory days of a local, near legendary and now-gone fun seekers getaway: Hagensick’s Resort, Lake Campbell.
The dedication with a short program was July 1 at the South Beach on Lake Campbell.
“Russ Bortnem, who lives on the lake, suggested it to Jim Booher, our president of the Lake Campbell Improvement Association,” said Joan Hegerfeld-Baker, secretary, explaining the genesis of the project to procure and place the marker. She volunteered to take on the task of coming up with the text for the marker.
Baker said that several articles collected from The Brookings Register over the past decades were useful in providing the historical information needed for composing the historical marker text, which the South Dakota Historical Society limits to “approximately 200 words in 5/8 inch print.” The text for the Hagensick’s marker is  at 187 words.

She was aided by local writer and author Chuck Cecil, who provided much of the needed documentation, such as newspaper articles from local publications, and by the late John Bibby, a Brookings resident.
Baker said the improvement association went through the historical society “so there would be an official record” of the resort. She added that copies of the application to the historical society and of the backup documentation would be given to both the Brookings County and Moody County museums for their records
“It (Hagensick’s) is in Moody County,” Baker said. “But most of the lake is in Brookings County, so I think it’s important that we put the information at both museums. Both museums were very helpful at helping me find information, letting me go through their file cabinets.”

Automobile had key role
The historic marker reads: “In 1915 Mr. and Mrs. Bill Hagensick purchased 14 acres of land that, in 1917, became Hagensick’s Resort. As the automobile became more accessible, thousands of fun-seekers sought the resort. In 1920 it was expanded to the west of the bridge for a baseball field, airplane landing field and carnival space. The resort was famous for Independence Day celebrations featuring picnicking, horseshoe tournaments, foot races, baseball and softball games, swimming, boating and fishing. In 1931 a large skating rink-dance hall, popular for the time, was built providing entertainment during the Dirty Thirties for crowds often so large that skating was in shifts. Also popular was a long slide guiding a water sled filled with swimmers into the lake. The Mayflower, a sightseeing boat, provided lake tours. The resort had a service shop, gas pumps, restaurant, bath houses, a band pavilion and plenty of cool shade. It was sold in 1945, and continued on a less grand scale into the early 1960s. The Hagensicks moved to a home west of the bridge, previously where the baseball grounds were, and the large skating rink-dance hall was razed in 1994.”

That 187-word history will fit on what Baker calls “your typical historical marker that you see alongside your roadways in South Dakota.” The South Dakota State Historical Society mandates: “All markers are the same pattern and have a lettering panel measuring 30” high and 42 wide.”  
“I think one thing that’s noteworthy is that resorts like this kind of sprang up around the country,” Baker said, putting Hagensick’s Resort in the perspective of a larger piece of history. “It had to do with the automobile.”