Personal stories from the past of living, working, and playing in Door County
The Bosman Parkside Hotel was built by my Uncle Eli Bosman and his wife Aunt Lena.....they had a son Roger.
I assisted my uncle Eli constructing the three cottages when I was 8 years old in about 1951. Uncle Eli was the former chief carpenter at Palmer Johnsons until he was killed in a auto accident in a car driven by his brother, Louis Bosman in 1969. Both brothers were WWI veterans.
Eli Bosman's sister, my mother, Dora Schmidt, is in Anna's Healthcare facility. She is only 96 but has a great memory.....any lapses in local data can be filled in by her.
More on the Bosman Parkside Hotel......Uncle Eli and Aunt Lena used to rent the cottages for $3. per day.....big money at the time....My Aunt Lena Bosman, Aunt Alice DeWitt, and Aunt Lenore Wautier used to make 100 Belgian Pies in one day for Kirmiss.
I worked for Dick Lehman, a WWII veteran who inherited Cabot's Lodge from his father, every summer from 1957 to 1960. Bun Bun Hiel, Bobby Vogel's brother, and I used to paint all of their small boats every sptring and also painted their cottages We put masks on the windows and painted one cottage per hour including all of the spiders and wasps nest. I made twenty five cents per hour in 57 and then had my pay doubled to 50 cents per hour in 1958.
Dick and his mother were marvelous people and it was a pleasure to be there....Al Coyer, who owned the bar across the street, sold us ten cent beer when the drinking age was a dime. Bun Bun Hiel and I worked there too for 50 cents per hour.
Stanley Brandies Feed Mill.....I can remember going there when I was about 4 years old....1947......Sometime in the 50s it exploded and there was lumber all over the area.
Japanese Garden.....Pat Corcoran used to work for Warner as a stone mason before we went into the Marine Corps in 1961.....I would say he worked there from about 1958 when we were sophomores....Pat's brother is a boat broker in town.
I have not seen a picture of Piggly Wiggly on Jefferson Street.....Tim Lawrie, Terry Tebon, Dennis Allen, Jonny Sievers, Red Buns Nelson and Tom Schmidt worked there as bag boys......we started at 70 cents per hour....Jim Nesbit, the owners son, gave us an inspirational speech and told us we were going to get a raise to 75 cents per hour but we had to be more productive.....too many laughts to list here.....