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Lakes Near Sibley State Park
The lakes of the Sibley State Park area.
Sibley State Park Abounds in Natural Beauty
There's more to the Little Crow lakes region in Minnesota than its most-well-known body of water, Green Lake. About 15 miles north of Willmar, in west-central Minnesota, lies Sibley State Park, which is set amid a number of beautiful lakes.
Five lakes are located inside the park and four other lakes are partially inside the park's boundaries. Sibley State Park is an all-purpose park, offering hiking, fishing, canoeing, swimming, horseback riding and picnicking. About 700 to 800 campers can be accommodated.
Hike to the top of Mount Tom, one of the highest points in the area, and you can see as far as Willmar. The park's interpretive center is staffed year-round by a park naturalist.
The Minnesota Legislature established Sibley State Park in 1919, naming it after the state's first governor. From 1935 to 1938, about 200 men from the Veterans Conservation Corps built roads, buildings and trails within the park. Several granite buildings remain from their hard work, along with a memorial statue at Robbins Island Park in Willmar, near the county's historical society museum.
Privacy, beauty of Lake Andrew
When Paul and Jane Hedin look across Lake Andrew from their home, all they see is Sibley State Park. A lakeside Bible camp also contributes to much of the lakeshore being undeveloped. Being on a dead end road adds to the couple's extensive privacy - as do the more than 50 trees, many of which are oaks that have stood for more than a century.
With more than 100 feet of lakeshore and a lot that's nearly 275 feet deep, the family property is one of the largest lots on the lake.
"This is a beautiful lake," Paul said. "It's just gorgeous. A recent study of Willmar-area lakes indicated that Lake Andrew, with clarity rated at 13 and one-half feet, is nearly twice as clear as Green Lake.
To show how much lake property has increased in value, a 20'x20' room the couple added last winter cost nearly as much as their entire purchase of the property 17 years ago.
Preserving history and memories
Forty-nine years ago, Don and Judy Heath spent their honeymoon night on Lake Andrew in a cabin owned by Victor Lawson, a former Willmar mayor, state senator and Minnesota Senate Majority Leader. Lawson also was involved in national politics, being a supporter of William Jennings Bryan.
Judy Heath's father was Lawson's nephew. Judy Heath and Jane Hedin are sisters.
Don remembers Lawson's extensive book collection kept at the cottage. Those books along with papers and other items and memorabilia are now housed at the Kandiyohi County Historical Society.
Lawson acquired several hundred acres on the lake in the 1930s, including several thousand feet of shoreline. The family eventually gave 60 lakefront acres to the Lutheran church in Minnesota for the Shores of St. Andrew Bible Camp. The remainder of the property, except for Ekeberg Beach, which included about 35 acres along the shore of Lake Andrew, was given to Sibley State Park, which now surrounds Ekeberg Beach.
Judy's father had the land along Ekeberg Beach made into lots in 1960 when Lawson died, and sold them cheaply. "He did that so, as he said, the less fortunate people could have lake property," Don said.
In 1983, Don and Judy bought her late aunt's property. It included the 100-year-old cottage, which they then used as their home away from home for 20 years. The couple always planned to build a new home on the Lake Andrew property when Don retired. One condition Judy set was preserving the old cottage on the property, so the architect hired to build their new home was tasked with including the old cottage in the plan. The Heaths worked with SALA Architects' principal architect Katherine Hillbrand.
The finished home blends old and new in nearly 8,000 square feet of living space. The cottage's outside and interior walls were removed but the old ceiling was kept, as was the overall feeling. "It has the same feeling as when it was built 100 years ago," Don said, "but now it is up to code." We wanted to make our home feel comfortable and homey," he said.
"We cut off the second floor to make the pitch match the roof of the new house," he said. The "cottage's" new second floor serves as his office. The property has the appearance of a compound, with the lines of the old house combined with the new building, and a guest wing.
Besides the beauty of their home, Don and Judy have an enviable, private spot on the lake. Their neighbors include the Bible camp and the state park, which take up about one-fourth of the entire lakeshore.
While he grew up in Willmar, Don's jobs in the computer industry took him to locales far from Minnesota. And when he was named the first president of the Internet Society in 1996, it took him all over the world. "I traveled everywhere as part of my job and it was fun. But now I have no desire to travel." Spending quiet times on a pontoon or golfing nearby suit him just fine.
Heath Home
Don and Judy Heath worked with Katherine Hillbrand, principal architect at SALA Architects, Minneapolis, to build their retirement home on Lake Andrew. The home needed to accommodate sizeable social events as well as the Heaths' desire for private and intimate spaces.
Paying homage to Judy's family history on the lake also was paramount, including preserving and renovating a 100- year-old lake cottage. In fact, the cottage became the fulcrum for a much larger complex. Its form is still recognizable and a constant reminder of wonderful memories for the Heaths.
Three separate stairs lead to three private areas of the house. One set of stairs leads from a library housed in the original cottage to an office on the second level. The second set of stairs serves as the owner's private realm. This suite acts like a small house within a house, Hillbrand said, in that it has its own kitchenette, fireplace and gabled roofs.
An enchanting "secret door" and passageway lead from this second level abode to an office in the old cottage. The third set of stairs leads from the main living area to guest quarters above the garage and, ultimately, to a tower.
The tower and guest's domain are separated from the owner's suite, yet joined by a roof terrace over the central living area. The hillside tower was built as a retreat for meditation, music and stargazing.
According to Hillbrand it "acts as an eye for the mind and a beacon at night that signals to owner and guest alike that they can leave the hustle and bustle of the world behind."
Stone terraces at every door encourage neighborliness and provide opportunities for intimate gardening.
Four generations on Lake Florida
Bob Dickerson can tell you all about family history in the Sibley State Park area. He is the fourth generation of his family to operate Dickerson's Lake Florida Resort. He owns it with his wife, Connie.
In the early part of the last century, Bob's great-grandfather was advised to spend time in lake country because of a health condition. One summer in the early 1920s, he took leave of his general store in southern Minnesota and went camping with Bob's then-five-year-old father to look for a lake retreat. They rowed around various lakes, camping on the shores of six or seven, and then came across Lake Florida. "My great-grandfather saw this beautiful location facing west," Bob said, "and decided to buy it and build a resort." It opened for business in 1924.
Four of the original buildings remain, with a total of 13 lakefront cottages on 450 feet of sandy lakeshore. Today, the resort caters to young families with small children, but often sees families in their second or third generation return to the lake each summer. "One family has been coming here for four generations," Bob said.
With no televisions in the cabins - by design - visitors have free access to bicycles and a 14-mile paved trail, inner tubes, hydro-bikes, canoes, sailboats and fishing gear. Two 100-foot docks end with an 8-by-12 deck with benches for relaxing or fishing. "Before my dad died, we put in the first new, aluminum dock in 1994," Bob said. "We learned we paid more for that dock than he paid his mother and stepfather for the entire resort when he returned from World War II."
The Dickersons have been offered plenty of money to sell their resort, but they're not interested. The history and the memories don't come cheaply. "Our desire is to continue the tradition of 'building sandcastles and memories' for future generations," Bob said.
From 1940s cabin to yearround home
Jim Morris has enjoyed Lake Florida since the early 1940s when his parents bought a cabin on the lake. Now he and his wife, Barb, own a year-round home on the property. "My parents kept adding on to the cabin, and then we added on and added on a couple more times," Morris said.
They've lived there year-round since 1995. Their three sons also enjoyed the lake and now so do their children. The Morrises hosted their granddaughter from California for a visit this summer. "She likes to lay about, fish from the dock and generally have an unprogrammed few days," he said.
When Morris first came to the lake, most structures were cabins, but that is changing with larger homes being built. "With the cost of land, it's more desirable to have a year-round place," he said. "Buying land today is quite an outlay.
"It's a nice little lake and it's a reasonable distance from the Twin Cities," he said.
Rich Native American history
"People from the Twin Cities haven't found this beautiful mid-Minnesota area yet - they all head north," added Doug Mossberg. He and his wife, Peg, lived on Green Lake for 20 years.
One hundred years ago, people from Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa headed to Kandiyohi County by train to the area's lakes for a cooler summer environment. "To this day, many summer visitors are from south and southwest of here," he said.
Mossberg has been fascinated all of his life with the area's American Indian history, which covers thousands of years. "They came here for the same reasons as other people - food and a healthy climate. The summer weather was cooler here than further south." Every spring, the Dakota people, part of the Sioux nation, harvested buffalo fish, which is similar to a carp. Kandiyohi means "plentiful buffalo fish in Dakota language."
Mossberg led the development of a replica Indian village at the Prairie Woods Environmental Learning Center near Lake Florida. The nonprofit learning center provides environmental education and "outdoor experiences."
"The Indian village replica represents all of the Indian people who lived here during the last 12,000 years," Mossberg said. The earliest were the Paleo, then Archaic, followed by Woodland Indians who were mound builders, and the Dakota who are still in the area today.
The 500-acre learning center occupies a farm originally settled by Swedish émigrés in 1871. The farm site was covered by the Wisconsin Glacier until 12,000 years ago. When it melted, the beautiful, glacial topography became habitable by the Paleo Indian people.
Quick Clicks
Dickerson's Lake Florida Resort
Gateway to Spicer, Minn., Green Lake and the Little Crow Lakes Region
Kandiyohi County, Area Lakes Guide