The city is Lake Geneva and the lake is Geneva Lake, although most call both "Lake Geneva". And the natural beauty is all around us. Most visitors and guests are familiar with the many attractions in the Geneva Lakes area... the beaches, nature preserves, specialty and antique shops, galleries, golfing, boating, skiing, lake cruises, great food, musical events and the many fine resorts. However, many wonder about the origin of the rolling hills and lake, the early Indians, the pioneering white settlers, the quaint town and its homes and buildings.

Geneva Lake originated from the Michigan glacier and is known geologically as a mountain lake whose characteristics are great depth, hard bottom, few shallows and a drainage basin which is very small. Water in the lake comes from rainfall and from springs and streams, most of which originate at the western end of the lake. The outlet is at the City of Lake Geneva through the White River to the northeast. Lake Geneva was founded to capitalize on the water power of that 8-foot drop. The Geneva Lake Association, the Geneva Lake Watershed Environment Agency, and the Geneva Lake Land Conservancy are dedicated to maintaining the scenic beauty of the area, monitoring potential problems and in general assuring the continuance of the high quality of life for which this area is so well known. The Geneva Lake Water Safety Patrol keeps the lake safe for all who come to enjoy its beauty.

Geneva Lake has a surface area of 5,262 acres and a maximum recorded depth of 142 feet between Black Point and Conference Point. It is 9 miles long and ranges from .5 to 1.5 miles wide. A Native American footpath along the lakeshore connected the Indian camps. This early footpath was the beginning of a path that now goes all around the lake. The Lakeshore Path, which is about 21 miles in length has been preserved and kept accessible to the general public. Every visitor should take some time to walk it. You can find access at any public park on the lake. Walkers can see some of the historical mansions that grace the shores of Geneva Lake. Two of the most famous include the Wrigley Estate of the Chicago Cubs and chewing gum fame and the Maytag Estate of washing machine notoriety.

The earliest record of white men seeing this beautiful body of water was a party traveling with the Kinzie family between their army post at Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and Fort Winnebago (Portage City) near the Fox and Wisconsin River portage in 1831. This area was not on the river and lake highways of the earlier frontier period and thus lay undiscovered.

Before the white man arrived, Chief Big Foot and his band of Potawatomi Indians inhabited the Geneva Lake area. After the Black Hawk war, the Indians were told to leave their homeland, but Big Foot was reluctant to leave and did not do so until 1836, when his tribe was evicted and forced to move to Kansas. The Indians had enjoyed a good life around "Kishwauketoe", their name for Geneva Lake meaning, "land of the sparkling water".

John Brink, a government surveyor, laid claim to the waterfall power and adjacent land at the White River outlet to the lake in 1835. He named the lake after the lake in his home in Geneva, New York. The town was surveyed and laid out in 1837. Earlier land sales were confirmed at the Federal Government Land Office in 1839. The price was $1.25 per acre. Immigrant settlers from New England and New York flooded into the town. Lake Geneva with its great potential for water power developed quickly. By 1840, the village contained two hotels, a sawmill, a grist mill, a distillery, two general stores, and a school. Three churches were started and a temperance society was organized.

Prior to the civil war, Lake Geneva was on the reverse route to the Great Lake ports for slaves escaping from Southern Illinois and Eastern Kentucky. After the war, the town became a resort for the wealthy Chicago families. These families began construction of the many mansions on the lake, and Lake Geneva became known as the Newport of the West. Visitors included Mary Todd Lincoln and Generals Sherman and Sheridan. The town filled with homes and buildings from these earlier times. They represent the frontier and pioneering as well as the later Victorian period.

Lake Geneva's continued growth and prosperity during the 1870s was primarily due to its popularity as a resort area. Even before the railroad was completed, Chicago families had discovered Geneva Lake. They came and camped on the lakeshore or stayed in the few hotels and guesthouses in Lake Geneva. The great Chicago fire of 1871 brought increasing numbers into Southern Wisconsin and turned the area into a fashionable resort. Many had lost their homes and businesses in Chicago and simply moved to Geneva Lake while their homes were being replaced. Many of the lovely "summer cottages" were built on the lake shore in this era...some are still in evidence today. Maple Lawn was the first mansion, constructed by Sheldon Sturges, and still graces the shoreline just west of Library Park on Hwy 50 in Lake Geneva.

The 700 Block of Downtown Lake Geneva is on the National Register of Historic Places for its unique collection of turn-of-the-century buildings. It remains largely original to this day. And built in 1912 on the site of the Geneva Towers high-rise, once stood the Lake Geneva Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It was the first of its kind and is considered the forerunner of the roadside motel that would soon spring up across America.

Of particular note, the statue of Andy Gump looking out over the lake in Flat Iron Park in downtown Lake Geneva attracts much attention and is certainly a part of the past. Sidney Smith, his creator, was a well-known cartoonist and a familiar figure in the Geneva Lakes Area, especially during the summer months. The Gumps (one of the first Mr. & Mrs. cartoon series conceived) was created in 1917 and featured in the Chicago Tribune, 300 other newspapers and several foreign countries for many years. It was so popular that the strip continued on for some time after Smith's tragic death in a car accident in 1935.

The quieter side of Geneva Lake is on the west shore and is home to two villages... Fontana, also known as "Fontana-on-Geneva-Lake", and Williams Bay—"the Bay" for short.

The University of Chicago’s Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay houses the largest refracting telescope in the world. When visiting Yerkes, make sure you take a tour around the grounds and the building. Three observatory domes stand at opposite ends with a connecting structure between them. Tucked here and there are whimsical and symbolic sculptures set in a wooded park-like setting. Inside you will find cool, green marble walls, oak trim and elaborate geometric patterns and figures within the rotunda. Free tours are held year round. Numerous Nobel prize winners, including Albert Einstein, have gazed through the observatory’s 40-inch telescope.

Another significant factor of the Bay’s surroundings are the four camps that cover hundreds of acres. They serve as conference centers, retreats and specialized summer camps, allowing "outsiders" to briefly enjoy living in Williams Bay. During the 1950’s and 60’s, many enjoyed live performances of national fame in a season series called "Music By the Lake" at George Williams College Camp. It was reintroduced in 2001 by Aurora University and continues to draw area residents, tourists and lovers of the arts to the west shore.

Williams Bay is also known as the "Ice Boating Center of the World". Not only does the lakes area of Walworth County historically have some of the best ice for ice boating, sometimes it has the only ice in the country suitable for the sport. By December or sooner, Lake Como is usually ready for iceboats, followed by Delavan Lake and finally Geneva Lake in January. Because of Geneva Lake’s depth and large surface, different sections are ready at different times. The local Skeeter Iceboat Club in Williams Bay has a careful system of checking the ice conditions in different locations and records a daily telephone message from December to March that reveals the current ice conditions as well as scheduled regattas. The club sponsors local races three times weekly and frequently hosts midwestern, national and international iceboat regattas. They are dependent upon the weather and ice conditions and can be cancelled at the last minute. This is definitely a sport that demands patience, flexibility and unflinching loyalty.

The second of the two villages on the west shore is Fontana, the name derived from the Italian and French words for a spring or fountain. Most of the springs of the Geneva watershed run from the hillsides in Fontana toward the lake. As a direct reflection of the natural resources, various earlier industries emerged quickly including sawmills, flour mills, a stone quarry and an ice-cutting operation for refrigeration.

But even in the early days, tourism was the true backbone of Fontana’s economy. Most often, things would work like this... a group of well-to-do families from a specific community would band together to purchase a large piece of lakefront property, then subdivide the land among themselves. Eventually, the cottages became deeded estate homes and were subsequently handed down through the generations. Many of these fine clubs still exist today. Belvidere Park, the lake’s first club (founded in 1869), the Harvard Club (1875) and the Chicago Club (1879) were among the first. And so it went around Fontanašs lakeshore. Parcel by parcel, the land was subdivided and sold to private interests, and an entire vacation community took shape around the western end of Geneva Lake. Today, along both South Shore Drive and North Shore Drive, you can see the signs and street names that mark these residential developments—Brookwood, Abbey Springs, Indian Hills, Club Unique, Country Club Estates, Glenwood Springs, Buena Vista Park, The Gardens—and know that each is an address of distinction.

Fontana has a lakefront district that has always bustled with activity. Many years ago, the trolley line ran directly to the lakeshore (the end of the line was located at the present-day site of Gordy’s Marine) and on summer weekends, it would deposit vacationers by the thousands. Over the years, a wide array of businesses catering to the tourist trade awaited them on the shoreline. Even today you cannot drive on Lake Street during the summer weekends due to the heavy foot traffic through the area. Should you find yourself at the lakefront in Fontana, make a point of stopping in for a leisurely lunch or dinner at Chuck’s Lakeshore Inn, Gordy’s Boathouse or cross the boulevard and visit The Abbey Resort and Fontana Spa, a world-class facility with its dramatic five-story A-frame design.

The Lake Geneva Yacht Club is also located in Fontana and dates back to the Geneva Lake Regatta Club organized in 1874. The club has a strong emphasis on the inland scows that have been the main midwestern lake’s high-performance sailboat for over a hundred years. Local resident Buddy Melges, who started his competitive sailing career on Geneva Lake, is an internationally known and respected yachtsman having won Olympic and Pan-American gold medals as well as having been inducted into the America’s Cup Hall of Fame.

Another "must do" when in the area is to take an excursion boat tour. Choose from one of the turn-of-the-century narrated boat tours on the double-deck Lady of the Lake, a luncheon, dinner or ice cream social on the Belle of the Lake or a tour on the Walworth II, known as "the mail boat", continuing the tradition of marine mail delivery on the only remaining mail delivery route of its type in the country. Every morning from June 15 to September 15, mail is delivered to the piers of more than 50 lakeshore homes. The mail carrier jumps from the front of the boat, down the pier, deposits the mail, picks up the outgoing mail, runs back and leaps on the stern of the boat as it continually moves through the water.

The entire area also includes some of the finest golf in the country for every level of expertise. There is Abbey Springs Golf Course set on the slope of Geneva Lake’s South Shore and Country Club Estates Golf Course, both in Fontana, George Williams College Course in Williams Bay, Hawk’s View Golf Club, Hillmoor Golf Club and two 18-hole national championship courses at the Grand Geneva in Lake Geneva and three 18-hole courses at Geneva National set on the northwestern shores of Lake Como.

So, as you can see, Lake Geneva has a little bit of everything. Come join us for a lifetime of memories.