The property at Long Lake in Portage, Michigan, known as Ramona Park and featuring a pavilion called Ramona Palace was in my family for many years. Ramona was named after the “Indian Princess” in Helen Hunt Jackson’s popular novel Ramona, which was published in 1884.
When I was a little girl, my father Rudy Hanson tried to re-create the heyday of Ramona Park and its pavilion. He was young and ambitious and wanted to restore the place. Although Ramona Palace had a magnificent ballroom, the owner had sold the liquor license in 1956 or 1957 to Airway Lanes (according to my father).
So my parents held teen dances and concerts; The Association performed there. I remember my parents taking tickets out front, seated at a table. One time a kid broke in when a dance was going on. Dad took off running after this high school “track star,” caught him, and turned him over to the police. It was mentioned in the paper.
My father preferred booking picnics because he could obtain a one day liquor license. Continental Can held their company picnics at Ramona. Sometimes I helped out or hung out during events. The German-American Club held a dance, and I remember a couple dressed in lederhosen, the girl’s thick blonde braid swinging to her dancing.
My father had invested in this property and lost money on the deal. It was actually owned by a relative named Therese Remine. Therese’s mother was Mary Paak (Peek), the sister of my great great grandmother, Alice Paak DeKorn.
Therese had inherited the property from Henry and Carrie Waruf, who had owned it for years. Carrie was born a Paak, and I believe she was one of the Paak sisters: Mary, Alice, Annie, and Carrie. This is an area for future research. I don’t know why only Therese inherited and not her brother, Harold. Or why the cousins, such as my grandfather Adrian Zuidweg, did not inherit it.
Therese Remine
At some point after my father no longer was affiliated with the property, Therese sold and donated it to the City of Portage.
My father has many other memories of the park. He says Ramona was used as storage for years for ice, which was cut from the lake and packed with straw. It lasted throughout the summer and was hauled to town by a train. The tracks ran halfway between the pavilion and Sprinkle Road.
In that front lot off Sprinkle, in the 10s and 20s, was a building and home field for various ball teams. Later on, Airstream trailers held their annual meetings. The circus was set up on the Ramona property; I remember the circus billboard which was up for weeks ahead of time.
When I was young, a row of cottages on the property were leased out to renters by Therese. Sixty years before that, Richard DeKorn, my great great grandfather, had leased his own summer cottage from the Warufs.
Therese’s summer house was on Sprinkle, and a gravel road led back to the park, pavilion, and the lakefront. My friends and I found arrowheads in the cornfield behind her house.
Ramona Park is a thriving park in Portage, Michigan, still today.
Possibly Long Lake, according to Adrian Zuidweg
Cora DeKorn at her father Richard DeKorn’s cottage on Long Lake
Richard DeKorn enjoying the lake
The Family Kalamazoo 
What great stuff. I love this kind of history. I drove up to the entrance of Ramona Lake Park once but did not go in. Now I have to go in. I think you should contact the super-nice history librarian, Steve Rossio, at the Portage District Library for photos. He’s big on military stuff but no doubt knows about Ramona Lake too. Some of his words: http://www.pdl.lib.mi.us/blog/well-here-we-go/
Steve Rossio might have had his dad for a teacher at PNHS, but so did I :). Oh, Wilma, you HAVE to go and take pix for me! Do you think that the library has old pix of Ramona?
Interesting history lesson. I wonder how many other parks and recreation area that the public takes for granted are there only because someone in some family took the risk your ancestors did.
Jose, that’s a great point. I had never thought of that before. I always think of parks as being simply public entities and not anything connected to public ownership–and yet here was this example in my own family. Maybe it wasn’t even that uncommon . . . .
[…] two months ago I posted about The Park with a Literary Name , Ramona Park in Portage, Michigan. This lake property was in my family for many […]
[…] center photo is Annetta at Comstock School. The top right photo is in front of the Bath House at Ramona Park at Long Lake, which was owned by Richard DeKorn’s sister-in-law from his first marriage and […]
[…] The other posts where you can read about Ramona Park, Long Lake, and the Waruf/Remine house can be found at Living by Long Lake, Portage, Michigan and The Park with a Literary Name . […]
Your picture here labeled Boat Landing Long lake, was at the skating rink on the south en of the lake, it was called Summer Home park, but it was not Ramona.. Paula
Paula, that is fabulous information! Thank you so much! I’ll have to update this post eventually!
I’ve taken down the 2 postcards and will repost them when I have more information on them.
It was own by the Buchholz’ family, just so you know it was on Long Lake just the wrong side of it.. Maybe sometime in the near future I might be able to give you some more info, just don’t have it all squared away and down pat yet. Its too bad that the Libraries around here don’t have much about Ramona, with all the big companies around having their picnic’s and the big era bands that played at the Ramona Palace..Even Rem Wall played their for years. Anyway I will keep you updated as I can from my end.. Happy New Year..
I didn’t know Rem Wall played out there! What a Kalamazoo area institution he was!
My grandfather, Eddie Smith, used to play with his Big Band at Ramona Palace. They were called Eddie and Revelers. My family has photos of him directing the band there. Would love to get more info on Ramona Palace!
Shawna, what fabulous information! I am planning to write a couple more posts about Ramona in the next couple of weeks. If you would like me to post a photo of him on here, crediting you, I would love to do so. Just email me about it. Try mosaicwords[at]aol.com.
Also, Paula, who commented above you, is writing a book about Ramona!
[…] year, I published a post about a park that once belonged to family members and that had an inpact on me when I was growing […]
Theresa Remine, inherited the Waruf’s property, because she stayed with Carrie and help out and then when Carrie got ill she stayed right with her.
I have heard that story for years by people who lived at the lake, My Mom thought Theresa was a lovely woman, and so did most of the folks who lived on Waruf’s property.
Just catching up on some of your family history. It makes me want to dig into mine. I remember your Dad going over to Ramona Park and taking us with him. I was probably over at your house playing or reading the latest Nancy Drew book, as we often did when we got together.
I would love to read posts about your family history, Jill! Haha, that’s right. Do you remember the lake and the dropoff in front of Ramona?
[…] The Park with a Literary Name […]
[…] The Park with a Literary Name […]
[…] The Park with a Literary Name […]
[…] The Park with a Literary Name […]
[…] The Park with a Literary Name […]