Beautiful Lake Geneva, Wisconsin--Home of Wealthy Lakeshore Dwellers and Gangsters.

 

By Pamela S. Meyers

The Lake Como Hotel around the
time of the gangster era. 
Source Lake Geneva News Net

I’ve posted numerous articles about the many mansions that line the shoreline of beautiful Geneva Lake and about the town of Lake Geneva where I grew up. 

Just north of Geneva Lake sits Lake Como a much smaller and shallower lake. Lake Como’s south shore has a rather interesting history. During Prohibition, notorious Chicago gangsters frequented a rather nondescript facility known as the Lake Como Hotel. Men like Bugsy Moran, Baby Face Nelson, and John Dillinger, among others, would travel twelve miles north over the state line to hang out at the hotel, which was run by Hobart Hermanson, a trusted sympathizer to the gangsters. 

If you are from around the Lake Geneva area or visit it often, you are likely familiar with The French Country Inn. Over the decades, the facility was known by a few different names, one of which was The Lake Como Inn. 

By the time prohibition began, the inn was owned by the Hermanson brothers. Hobart Hermanson managed the inn and ran The Sewer, a speakeasy and gambling operation in the Inn’s basement. 

Next door, an inn called Watersedge was also frequented by gangsters. The Gangsters gravitated to these places because they were just over the state line and warrants issued in Illinois were not enforceable in Wisconsin. Also, the proprietors of these facilities were gangster friendly. Another plus was a railroad track that ran from nearby Williams Bay through the town of Lake Geneva and all the way to Chicago went right past the properties. With a bribe or two, the engineers would willingly stop the train and let the gangsters load and unload bootlegged liquor. 

Watersedge as it appeared some
years ago.
Source: Lake Geneva News Net

Today, the Watersedge’s attached garage still has a concrete ramp that leads to the basement and the whiskey room where the booze was stored. A vault/safe room was also in the basement where the cash was stored behind a huge steel door. A third room, dubbed the casino room, provided storage for gambling paraphernalia, such as slot machines.

The original concrete and brick wall of the vault room
at Watersedge. Across the hall is the steel door to the old whiskey room. 
Source: Lake Geneva Regional News

Eventually, the FBI was able to issue nationwide warrants for the men which were valid in all states. Where local police could be bribed to look

Baby Face Nelson
Source: Legends of
America.com

the other way, that didn’t work with the FBI. One of the gangsters, Baby Face Nelson, managed to elude the feds for quite a while. The FBI knew he’d likely return to his favorite hideout, and staked out The Lake Como Inn. Nelson arrived there and caught the FBI off guard. He took off and a chase ensued until it ended with Baby Face’s death in a field near Barrington, IL. 

An interesting note: Hobart had been good friends with Bugs Moran and his wife Lucille. After the 1929 St. Valentine’s Massacre, the Morans divorced and Hobart eventually married Lucille. Hobart and Lucille are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Lake Geneva. I’ve never looked for their graves. Maybe I should put that on my to-do list. 

If you are from a small town, does your town have a connection to organized crime?

Pam Meyers lives in northern Illinois with her two rescue cats. She enjoys true-crime reality shows and old sitcoms, along with crocheting and reading. 

When she isn't in Wisconsin, nosing around for new story ideas, she can be found at her church leading Bible studies and worshiping on Sunday mornings. 

She's written a four-book historical series set in Lake Geneva, along with Surprised by Love in Lake Geneva and several contemporary novels. All are available on Amazon in print or Kindle. 

Spotlight on Pamela S. Meyers

 Hello and welcome to my Spotlight on Heroes, Heroines, and History!  

My author name is Pamela S. Meyers, but if I were to meet you in person, I would ask you to call me Pam. I am blessed to have grown up in what I consider to be a little slice of heaven on earth, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. I don't live there now, but am grateful I only live about an hour away and am able to visit almost any time I want.

I never realized my love of writing fiction until I returned to college as an adult to complete my degree. A creative writing course sparked that interest. That, along with a fiction editor who at a writers conference suggested a short story I wrote could be turned into a novel. It was all the encouragement I needed to embark on a wonderful journey of telling tales set in my beloved hometown. Lake Geneva is history-rich. Only about 70 miles north of Chicago the small village, set next to a beautiful crystal clear lake, drew the movers and shakers of Chicago to move their families there following the Great Chicago Fire which displaced their families. For years the area's nickname was The Newport of the West because the beautiful homes mimicked the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island where the wealthy went to escape the heat of the summer. 

My Newport of the West series begins with Safe Refuge as the story follows the fictional Hartwell family from the ruins of Chicago to Wisconsin where they set down roots. Anna Hartwell, the eldest daughter, is set to marry a terrible man in an arranged marriage. The fire prevents the nuptials from happening and opens the door for her to connect with the love of her life, an Irish Immigrant. The second book in the series takes place about 20 years later with the heroine being the daughter of the couple in the previous book. So far, there are three published books, with a fourth in the works. 

Book Two, Shelter Bay, takes place in 1893 during the time 

of the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
At that time, steam yachts plied the waters of Geneva Lake as they ferried the wealthy to their lakeshore mansions after they arrived from the city on the train. I loved learning about these vessels, a few of which still exist and are in use by the local excursion boat company. 

Book Three, Tranquility Point is set during homefront World War 1. Hannah Murphy is about to enter law school, not at all phased by being one of very few women in her class. Then the Great War breaks out and she sees her fiance head off to war. School is put on hold as she volunteers for the Women's Land Army.

I'm currently writing Book Four, Rose Harbor which takes place during World War 2 and involves the daughter of Hannah Murphy. The story is still developing but it involves another strong woman from the Hartwell dynasty. 

Before I began writing my series, I wrote a stand-alone novel, Surprised by Love in Lake Geneva. It is set in 1933 when the Riviera Building was built next to the lake in order to attract more tourists to the town and lake. The second-floor ballroom held dances there weekly in the summer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Even Louie Armstrong played there. It was a lot of fun writing the story about Meg Alden and Jack Wallace and learning all about the "Riv," as the locals call the building. 

I'd love to hold a giveaway of one of my books. If you leave a comment, I will put your name in the hat and will hold a drawing on November 15th. Your choice of whatever book of mine you would like. If you are interested in the series, I strongly suggest starting with Safe Refuge although any book can be read out of order. Your choice--Kindle version or print.

Have you ever been to Lake Geneva or the state of Wisconsin?

The best way to keep up with me besides here on this blog on the fourth of every month is through my links below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pamela.meyers

Website: https://pamelasmeyers.com

Amazon Author Page: https://amzn.to/2Kgp5CC

Pam lives in northeast Illinois with her two rescue cats, Jack and Meg, named after her characters in Surprised by Love, and can often be found nosing around Lake Geneva's library and museum for new story ideas. She loves to read, and is very involved in her church.