Jan Holtz Kraemer, a lifelong resident of White Bear Lake, remembers the day she realized that not everyone grew up on a lake. As a child, raised one-half block from the city's largest lake, also called White Bear Lake, she took for granted that that was the type of neighborhood where everyone grew up. After all, her young life revolved around the lake. Today, it remains entrenched. "The lake was so important to us as kids. It was so much of our life." Holtz Kraemer remembers flying kites in the winter on the frozen lake, free from fear of any string becoming tangled in a tree. Her father, an industrial arts teacher, helped her make some "awesome kites," complete with a hand-crank for the string. And if the ice formed on a day with little or no wind, and no snow, a monstrous, instant skating rink was created, complete with fish viewing through the clear ice. Holtz Kraemer also remembers bringing a chair to the frozen lake as a child, and taking turns pushing seated friends over the ice at full speed, with each rider's legs held stick-straight in front of the chair. Sailing in the summer also was commonplace, as were fishing contests and swimming lessons. Swimming lessons in White Bear Lake began shortly after school was out in early June - not in a heated pool, but right in the cool lake in the midst of waves and weeds. Parents put up a neighborhood dock - a tradition that isn't quite as simple to accomplish today. Holtz Kraemer grew up in a brick home built in 1885 that is on the National Register of Historic Places. Her father still lives there. She now lives right on the lake and works as a realtor in territory she knows so well.

"A lot of people grew up here taking White Bear Lake for granted,"she said. "And a lot have come back to raise their families here."

Benny Schmalzbauer

Holtz Kraemer is in training to someday inherit the responsibility that has belonged to local resident Benny Schmalzbauer, age 86, since around 1930 - announcing the day every spring when the ice has officially left the lake. Prior to the 1930s, John Johnson, owner of Johnson's Boat Works, kept track of the ice-out day for his bay because that was the day when he could put out his docks. "When Johnny retired, I said, 'I think I'll do that now,'" Schmalzbauer said. Schmalzbauer changed the tradition a bit by announcing the date for the entire lake - figuring the day when someone could row a boat to any shore.

Schmalzbauer's history in the city goes far beyond his lake duty. He started on his career path as a future White Bear Lake business owner at age 13 when he went to barber school. "Nobody asked, so nobody knew," Schmalzbauer said of his underage status. One of 12 children, he had told his father that he wanted to go to college someday. His father responded, "College? They're sticking up filling stations," referring to college graduates and the employment ills during the Depression. He heeded his father's advice to learn a trade. Schmalzbauer obtained his barber's license by age 14 and commenced cutting hair for men and women in White Bear Lake. The only problem in hiding his age came when the city clerk had her hair cut on a day the polls were open. That served as a reminder to Schmalzbauer's boss that it was election day. He encouraged Benny to make time to vote. "I told him I couldn't vote and he said, "Oh, a couple of days won't make a difference." I probably could have voted but I didn't." By age 22, Schmalzbauer put up his own shingle - Benny's Barber Shop, an enterprise that became a local institution. After World War II, he moved his business two doors down to a former bank building that he bought for $4,500 with the help of loans from relatives. He worked there until his retirement 10 or 12 years ago. Schmalzbauer worked for Railway Express during the war because barber shops were not considered essential businesses. While barbering was his vocation, fishing has been a passion throughout his years in White Bear Lake. Schmalzbauer can also tell a good fish tale. He relayed one that his late brother had told him about a fishing expedition with a friend. "They heard noise in the bushes and when they went to check it out, they found a garter snake that was about three-fourths finished swallowing a frog. His friend took out a flask of whiskey and put a couple of drops of whiskey in the snake's mouth. The snake spit out the frog and so they went fishing. Later on, when they were fishing, they heard a tapping sound on their boat. There was the snake, and he had another frog for them." Schmalzbauer said he won a rod and reel with that story.

Pat Puffer

Pat Puffer remembers her home being a popular hang-out for the friends of the six children she raised with her husband, Ken. Having a house on White Bear Lake may have played more than a small role in that, as did having children involved in Scouting, church groups, track meets and other school activities. They moved to their lake home about 40 years ago.

"We always made use of the lake," she said - from swimming, fishing, water skiing, canoeing and sailing in the summer, to ice skating and ice boating in the winter. She fondly remembers taking a pontoon to the middle of the bay near the family's home, and enjoying a Twins game on the transistor radio and lunch made on a charcoal grill when the family was ready to take a break from other activities on the water.

The lake has always been important to the area - attracting many residents and visitors over the past 150 years, including the likes of Mark Twain and F. Scott Fitzgerald. While White Bear Lake may be most closely tied with the city of the same name, Birchwood, Dellwood, Mahtomedi and White Bear Township also share the lake's border. According to a community profile published by the local chamber of commerce ,White Bear Lake derives its name from the word "Mahtomedi" which means "Spirit Bear Lake," the name given to the lake by the Dakota Indians. Prehistoric Indians roamed the White Bear Lake area nearly 4,000 years ago. The first settlers arrived in the early 1840s to farm. The city grew rapidly as a frontier settlement, then a railroad town and a resort community. The resort era officially began in 1853 when the first hotel was built; by 1890, at least five resort hotels were in operation as well as a number of "white tent communities" that accommodated the throngs of summer visitors. After all, going "up north" in those days meant White Bear Lake. Hundreds of people traveled by horse- drawn carriage or wagon,or by ox cart before railroad tracks reached White Bear Lake in 1868 - a development that cut a lengthy trip from St. Paul to 30 minutes. During the height of the resort era, up to 10,000 visitors a day would ride the trains into White Bear Lake for special events. The resorts provided many activities for their visitors including musicians on a barge that floated up and down the lake. One favorite spot for visitors was the Wildwood Amusement Park that started in the 1880s as a picnic grounds and public gathering area. By 1899, it began its shift to a true amusement park, complete with the first Tilt-a- Whirl, a 500-foot-long roller coaster, bumper cars and a funhouse. A major attraction through the 1920s, the amusement park closed in 1932, falling victim to the Great Depression and the increased popularity of automobile travel and greater accessibility to northern resorts. While the resort era and influx of vacationers dwindled, more people became year-round residents. By 1950, White Bear Lake's population reached 3,646. After the post-war building boom, the city's population more than tripled.

Mike Parenteau

Few families in White Bear Lake have lived in the area longer than Mike Parenteau's - his family's presence predates Minnesota's statehood. Many residents associate his family with the store that it operated in the city for decades. His father opened a grocery store in 1927 and changed to Parenteau's Clothing and Shoes in 1949, an operation that was a fixture in White Bear Lake until it closed in 1997. Mike started working in the store at the age of 15, when his father died in 1962. Over the years, he got to know many families - many with store credit accounts - and later, the children of his former classmates.  

Parenteau grew up a couple houses from the lake but the lake was his playground. "I remember in early summer chasing minnows in the shallow water and putting some in a fish bowl. We'd also find worms in my mom's garden and go fishing a lot. We'd catch sunnies, rock bass and tons of perch as fast as you could pull 'em in." Summers were also filled with days swimming in the lake or boating. He started rowing at age eight and when he grew older, water skiing became a regular activity. Winter brought ice skating, plenty of ice hockey and time spent on an ice boat. "We'd scoot all over the lake at breakneck speed," Parenteau said. And of the hours spent at ice hockey, "We'd stay out so long we'd come in with tears in our eyes because we were so cold. "I have a lifetime of memories and activities with the lake," he said. "I can't imagine living anywhere else." He and his wife, Mary, bought a home on the lake 26 years ago, and raised their three children there.

Paul Auger

The Auger family also has a long history in the White Bear Lake area - back to the late 1800s. All four of Paul Auger's grandparents grew up on farms near Centerville and Hugo. He recalled a story about one grandmother and her sisters, as children, moving to town in the fall - to their "town house"- so that they could go to school. "It was common in those days for the younger children and all the girls to move to town, but the older boys were needed on the farm," Auger said. After Auger's grandfather returned from World War I, where he served as an aircraft mechanic for biplanes, he worked at a general mercantile store in White Bear Lake until he saved enough money to start his own business - a gas station and garage on the same property where his grandson still operates a garage. His grandfather liked the location because the road that is now Highway 61 used to run right by the business.

"We have a very good sense of community here in White Bear Lake," said Auger, who also serves as the city's mayor. He has seen many residents move away after college and many of them move back. "As soon as they had the opportunity, they moved back to White Bear Lake because of the community. We have a neat downtown, good schools, safe neighborhoods, the proximity of the lake and the proximity to both major cities. We're not that far away from Minneapolis and St.Paul, yet we still have that small-town feeling."

Mark Sather

Mark Sather used to drive to White Bear Lake from his home in Minneapolis to go sailing. Now White Bear Lake is his employer - he is the city manager.

"What sets White Bear Lake apart from other suburban communities is that it was a city, a free-standing community, a long time before it was a suburb," Sather said. He described the beauty and value of the city's unique downtown area that has been preserved over the years, and which helps the city maintain a strong sense of community and identity. The lake is also a critical component. He added that White Bear Lake is one of the cleanest lakes in the metro area, and is one of two that has its own conservation district created by the state Legislature.

The downtown continues to thrive despite nearby retail chains and other stores. "It thrives because the community values the downtown," Sather said, and it offers many types of services, from a wide variety of stores to the downtown library, post office and community theatre. Many business owners are likely to be the people you talk to when you walk in the door. "People come to know them, and realize that these businesses are supporting their families."

Sather described the variety of special events held in downtown White Bear Lake,including the popular Marketfest held on Thursday evenings throughout the summer - an event that attracts up to 5,000 visitors each day.

Catherine Carey

Catherine Carey grew up in White Bear Lake in the 1970s and has seen many changes just in that relatively short time. "I remember that if someone had a job outside of town,such as at 3M, that was far away." Her family and friends rarely drove to "the city" to shop, preferring to stay in White Bear Lake. "Everything you needed was right here - Parenteau's clothing store, hardware stores, a Ben Franklin, a movie theatre. Nobody needed to go beyond the city limits." While Parenteau's has closed, the city still has a good mix of retail and other offerings, Carey said.The city boasts a great environment, she said, including a rich arts community. A number of nationally known artists, illustrators and writers live and work in the area.

After working in Los Angeles for 10 years, a year in Texas, and a short time in Rochester where she worked for Minnesota Public Radio,Carey returned to her roots about five years ago. She worked for the White Bear Press for three and one-half years, and one year ago, she started a four-color magazine called Town Life that is targeted to residents of the northeast metro area (www.Town-Life.com).One fact that impresses Carey is the large number of people who do volunteer work."I am amazed at the people who do this. Some volunteer full time. People really care about their community and are willing to help out." She also counts and lauds the contributions of public servants - whether on the town board, city council or other position.

"White Bear Lake was an absolutely wonderful place to grow up," Carey said.

By Barb Umberger