The Lakeview Hotel, theater and amusement park stood on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan on the north side of what is now Wilson Avenue.
Captain Farnsworth, grandson of Sheboygan founder William Farnsworth, was the first manager of the hotel.
The Lakeview, a gracious, white, two-story wooden building with 50 rooms, was built in 1895. It was owned by the Pabst Brewing Co. and the furnishings were the property of the Sheboygan Railway and Electric Co., which operated the streetcar lines.
The streetcar company had extended its lines as far south as Lakeview Park in 1892 and at that time built an outdoor summer theater at the park. The theater which was free to streetcar patrons provided wooden benches for theater patrons who sat in the open, while the stage had a roof covering it. In later years, the entire theater was covered by a roof. The elegant hotel and cottages were constructed three years later.
The hotel building and several summer cottages which were also owned by the brewery were built at a cost of $15,000. The resort stood on land that has long ago disappeared into the lake as the ceaseless wave action of Lake Michigan eroded away the bluff.
Several of the summer cottages were moved and converted to permanent homes and can still be seen in the area. An example of one of the former summer cottages is located at 548 Whitcomb Ave. The hotel, known far and wide in the Midwest, attracted many Chicago residents who came north to Sheboygan to enjoy the view of the lake. Many patrons sought to escape the heat of the big city and enjoy the cool summer lake breezes. Other guests chose to rent a cottage and stay for the entire summer.
Several years ago, an elderly Sheboygan resident related to me that her brother had been a bellboy in the hotel and had described the interior of the building as being very opulent. Dark polished woodwork, shiny brass hardware, lace curtains, velvet drapes and thick carpeting were common throughout.
Just across the street to the south in what is now a wooded area stood
White City, an amusement park operated by the owners of the hotel. A roller coaster known as the "figure-eight" was built; a carousel with ornately carved wooden horses also stood in the amusement park near the outdoor theater. The hotel maintained a large menagerie in the park, and the city maintained a baseball diamond and grandstand in the southwest corner of the park. In later years the grandstand was taken down and rebuilt at the Plymouth fairgrounds.Hotel patrons and Sheboygan residents on several occasions were thrilled by daredevil hot air balloon ascensions, some of the first ever seen in this area, as well as carnivals in the park, all sponsored by the street car company to boost ridership to the area.
On Aug. 17, 1903, disaster struck the Lakeview when a devastating fire swept through the building.
All 50 rooms were occupied at the time of the blaze and all the guests escaped safely. Damage to the building was considerable, with only the lower floor saved. The entire second floor had been destroyed.
The hotel was rebuilt in 1904 as a one-story building by its new owners, the Hildebrand and Ebenreiter Co. The hotel burned again Nov. 13, 1929, when the property was owned by Mike Sacher, a well-known Sheboygan tavern keeper. He chose not to rebuild the hotel.
By this time, the amusement park was gone: the roller coaster had been taken down in 1908 and moved to Dubuque, Iowa, and the carousel had been dismantled. In the mid-1930s, a huge roller rink covered by a circus-sized tent occupied the property.
During the summer months on warm nights, residents in the area were treated to the sound of soft waltz music wafting through the neighborhood from the tent as skaters wheeled around the rink.
All that remains today of Sheboygan's first amusement complex are a few crumbling concrete foundations in the wooded area to the north of Lakeview Park.