Berlamont

BERLAMONT

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A black and white 1920 photo shows a one-story, wood building – a train depot with a sign that reads 'Berlamont.' Wood stairs lead to a loading platform and entrance to the depot. An empty wooden flatbed wagon sits out front.

Image Credit: Sue Hodapp

Black-and-white photo titled 'Main St. Berlamont, Mich.' looks down a dirt road, where a horse-drawn wagon approaches coming from the fields and farms in the distance. The tree-lined street has a few homes. Two girls and a woman stand in a yard.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Black-and-white postcard titled 'Berlamont, Mich.' shows the Berlamont Post Office, a white, one-story building set back from the road on a small grassy knoll. It has a covered porch that holds a rocking chair and potted plants.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

The Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad established a train stop here in 1871. The station was originally named Bear Lake Mills, after the saw and grist mills then operating on nearby Great Bear Lake. By 1880, the town was called Berlamont. It had a hotel, post office, feed and general stores and about 100 residents.

Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake has been a popular outdoor retreat since the early 1900s. Vacationers rented cabins or pitched tents and enjoyed the lake. The Aurora, Illinois, YMCA opened Camp Kilbourne on the lake's east shore in 1927. Since 1950, the site has operated as the Van Buren Youth Camp.

A black and white postcard from the early twentieth century shows a woman kneeling at the edge of a dock at a lake, about to launch a rowboat with two women seated inside. A fourth woman stands next to a white shed near the dock.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

A 1918 black and white postcard titled 'A Good Catch. Bear Lake, Mich.' At a tree-lined lake, three men dressed in dark suits and hats hold fishing rods. They stand behind a wooden rack displaying their catch of twelve fish.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Sides 1 and 2 of a 1950s postcard. Side 1 is a black and white photo showing a beach with dozens of youth campers circling a flagpole. Boys wear shirts and slacks; girls wear blouses with either skirts or pants. Each camper, holding a hand over the heart, looks up at the American flag. Side 2 has a typeset caption and a handwritten note. The caption reads: 'Honor the Flag Ceremony, twice daily at VAN BUREN COUNTY YOUTH CAMP. Great Bear Lake, Bloomingdale Michigan. Home Office, Paw Paw, Michigan.' In the message area, Conni writes Mrs. Ethel Bateman of South Bend, Indiana: 'Hi I am at Leadership Camp this week. Lots of fun.'

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Letters shaped by rustic logs title a 1937 map 'Camp Kilbourne. Aurora, Ill. YMCA Camp.' A beach curves through the center of the map, with Camp Kilbourne to the left and Big Bear Lake to the right. The camp includes buildings nestled in the woods, a council ring and athletic courts. The lake features a pier along the shore and a diving raft halfway out to 'Mystery Island.'

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Joe Louis Trains at Great Bear Lake

Wearing casual pants and lightweight jackets, two men run along a tree-lined road in early spring.

Image Credit: Getty Images, Bettmann Collection

In spring 1948, world heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis stayed with a friend on Great Bear Lake for a month of "rest and roadwork." Louis ran more than 200 miles on the roads near Berlamont and Bear Lake with his trainer, Freddie Wilson.

A 1948 black and white AP Wire photo with caption. Dressed in a long-sleeved checked shirt and plain slacks, a man bends forward, gripping the handle of a two-man saw to cut a log on wooden sawhorses. The caption reads: 'BLOOMINGDALE, MICH., APRIL 21-JOE LOUIS STARTS DRILLS: Heavyweight Champ Joe Louis starts training for his title match with Jersey Joe Walcott on June 23 with a session of sawing wood here yesterday. 1948.'

Image Credit: AP Images

Promotional photos show some upper-body workouts that helped Louis get in shape for his June fight with Jersey Joe Walcott. Joe Louis knocked out Walcott in the 11th round.

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