History of the O-Wash-ta Nong Club

Only Poetry Could Describe It
The O-Wash-ta Nong Club

They knew how to throw parties in the old days, and some of them inspired the editor to write headlines in rhymed verse. Plain prose just couldn’t describe them.

And there were matches made, too, on summer nights at the old O-Wash-ta Nong Club on the Ramona Shore of Reeds Lake. The following, taken from the Telegram-Herald of a June day back in the 1880’s, illustrates why:

"The silvery moon of a night in June,

The music sweet that timed waltzing feet,

The diamond’s flash, the water’s splash.

The low replies to talking eyes,

The joyous throng with jest and song,

And happy hearts in tune,

Will ne’er forget while memory yet

Recalls that night in June."

That was just the headline. The story told about a Saturday night dance at the O-Wash-ta Nong Club, so vividly it made you hear the violins.

* * *

The club was formed in 1885 by 25 leading men in Grand Rapids. First officers were F. H. Smith, J. P. Homiller, C. W. Chauncey and A. B. Keenan. They established downtown clubrooms over the Fourth National Bank and the following year began construction of a building on Reeds Lake.

The clubhouse had saucy second-story verandas which jutted out over the water on three sides, and a tall cupola-like tower with a wide observation deck. Although one of the main projects was encouragement of the sport of boating, swimming and oar racing, the social events were just as splendid as the regattas and attracted as much favorable notice.

Several regattas of the Northwestern Amateur Rowing Association were held at the club, and Grand Rapids oarsmen won many a cup under the O-Wash-at Nong colors. There were four-oared gigs, single and double sculls and pair-oared shells which cut the water like a speeding knife and tub races, too.

Later on, the club added another activity; a charitable one. Members in the late 1880’s were active in distributing food baskets to the needy.

O-Wash-ta Nong Club members also introduced the game of indoor ball (when it was played indoors) to Grand Rapids about 1890. A director made a journey to Chicago and saw it played there, and brought the game back with him.

The first club broke up in 1892, and there was an interim period when the Lake Side Club held brief away at Ramona. Formed after 1895, its building burned in 1903.

The O-Wash-ta Nong came back into existence, more glorious than ever, in 1914. A large and handsome building was put up just south of where the steamer now docks at Reeds Lake, and its grand opening surpassed most social events ever seen before in West Michigan.

Over-water gardens formed a green backdrop for dancers who tripped to the music of a Filipino string orchestra, and the lavishly-decorated ballroom was filled with the elite of the city.

Langford Griffin had gone out to the O-Wash-at-Nong from the Peninsular Club to help manage the new establishment, and Sophie Hewitt was the social caterer. Bessie Jowsma was in charge of the dining room.

Other names some Peninsular Club members may remember are Hugh Blacklock. Kent County’s Sheriff, who in 1914 was a renowned youth athlete and who became swimming instructor and lifeguard for the summer season. Carl Stites, another athlete of tremendous powers, also supervised water activities.

The high pitch of the grand opening was maintained in the O-Wash-at-Nong’s formal parties, and each was made unique through lief motifs such as "Indian Night," "Carnival Night," and Japanese Night."

They were more than dances, they were productions; there was time in those days to really plan a ball. The help dressed in appropriate costume, and one night a dramatic climax was achieved when Blacklock, dressed as an Indian brave, started from the opposite lake shore paddling a canoe, a pretty Indian maid sitting in the bow.

A powerful searchlight mounted on the roof of the club spotlighted the craft and tracked it right up to the clubhouse, and you can bet your boots the orchestra played on .

The cuisine at the club matched the decorations and music, and Griffin, who became manager in 1916, recalls many famous personages in the world of entertainment who came to the O-Wash-ta-Nong. The club was a big aid in getting Will Rogers, Jack Benny and others to make a booking here, for they liked to spend as much time as the6y could at the club.

Among the first officers of the second club were Heber A. Knott, president; Don Cawthra, Secretary; Ernest R. Hensley, manager; Martin C. Huggett, treasurer; Benjamin S. Hanchett and Paul F. Steketee, directors.

Under their leadership the club set a social entertainment standard seldom equaled since, and there is no telling what heights it might have reached in the Roaring Twenties, but on March29, 1918, it caught fire and the building was destroyed.

Today there is nothing at Reeds Lake to remind one of the glorious era of leisurely, dreamy nights when the sound of the strings drifted over moonlit waters. But those lucky ones who ever went to an O-Wash-ta-Nong party, old club or successor, never forgot it.

Transcriber: Barb Jones
Created: 4 Sep 2010
URL: http://kent.migenweb.net/organizations/Owashtanong2.html