Green Lake Conference Center 2014 Special Edition Volume 46 | Page 45
Winnebago Indians ~ Farm ~ Country Club
Christian Conference Center
Stone Development Company
The Stone Company spent another $3 million developing
a luxury gated resort in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
They constructed what is now Roger Williams Inn (1930)
with 81 guest rooms, a dining room, bar, casino, an
outdoor swimming pool, and the Links golf course – in
magnificent Scottish links style. Walter Hagen was in the
first foursome to play
the new course. Ben
Hogan, Byron Nelson,
Sam Snead and Vince
Lombardi have also
played the Links.
Twenty-five fine homes
were built as well.
As a result of the stock market crash in 1929 and the
Great Depression which followed, buyers for more lots
failed to materialize and Lawsonia went into receivership
in 1931. The bank holding the mortgage operated it for
about 10 years, but gas rationing during World War II and
the continued stringencies of the depression forced it to
close the gates and seek a buyer who would take it off
their hands.
Temporary WWII German POW Camp
From June until October 1944, the U.S. Government
rented William Carey Barn by the front gates and some
cottages as a temporary camp for German prisoners of
war. Approximately 400 POWs were housed here and
worked at nearby canning factories.
Baptist Assembly
Jessie’s dream of 1888 was matched by
the dream of Dr. Luther Wesley Smith.
In the summer of 1943 Dr. Smith,
Executive Secretary of the American
Baptist Board of Education and
Publication, asked David Witte, of the
Wisconsin Baptist State Convention
staff, about finding a place where his
dream for a national conference center could come true.
Witte mentioned a “fabulous former estate” at Green Lake.
With typical fervor Dr. Smith persuaded the caretaker to
let him take a look. By the end of the year he had enlisted
the aid of James L. Kraft of Kraft Foods, Inc., as well as
leaders of the denomination. Lawsonia, valued at $11
million, was purchased for $300,000 in December, 1943.
Baptist youth held the first conference in June 1944. A
dozen other conferences followed in the first season and
the slogan “For a Closer Walk with God” was adopted.
The conference center became a key meeting place for
great Baptist leaders. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke
at Green Lake July 23, 1956. His subject was “Nonaggression procedures to inter-racial harmony” as he
began to articulate this new way to resist racial injustice
in the midst of the Montgomery bus boycott. Visit our Web
site, www.glcc.org, to read his speech.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
spoke at Green Lake July 23, 1956.
Green Lake Conference Center has been busy the last
20 years investing in improvements to provide first-class
facilities for guests in this beautiful location. This includes
the construction of Kern and Bauer Lodges, Carroll Youth
Center, four cottages, the renovation of most pre-existing
accommodations and the construction of a new dining
room and welcome center equipping us to provide a
great experience and A Closer Walk with God for our 21st
century guests.
* * *
Photos used with permission from the Dartford Historical Society
and Green Lake Conference Center archival collections.
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