Waukewan Golf Club

Waukewan Golf Club began as a working farm. In December 1948 veterinarian Dr. Melvyn Hale bought the 250-acre Center Harbor property, known for breeding horses and cattle, for $14,000, painted its white buildings red and renamed it Almagra Farm. Around 1955 he bought a bulldozer and tractor and began roughing out golf holes himself, and after about three years of clearing and shaping, nine holes opened to the public in the spring of 1958. In 1963 Hale closed his veterinary practice to devote himself full time to the course, which he named for nearby Lake Waukewan because he felt people would recognize the name. In the late 1960s his sons joined him and finished the second nine. Hale died in 2000, and the club continues as an 18-hole public course in the Lakes Region.