Chris Schuelke Answers Your Questions With a Lake Alice Cyclone Tour This Monday

The weather may be hot, but a walk around Lake Alice is always cool. As part of Fergus Falls 150th anniversary the Otter Tail County Historical Society is leading a walk around Lake Alice on Monday, June 20, 7 p.m. The cost is $10, meet at St. James Episcopal Church.

Lake Alice has been an attraction since Fergus Falls was first settled. It was a pleasing discovery for early homeowners as sailboats and launched were commonly seen. During the winter people described the lake at being “black with skaters” on weekends, evenings and holidays.

Lake Alice was a well-established neighborhood by the turn of the 20th century. Unfortunately dozens of homes around the lake were flattened by the June 22, 1919 tornado leaving the lake so filled with debris it appeared as it you could walk across it. Turn of the century homes were replaced by 1920s bungalow style houses. The older homes that did survive were either the most solidly built or the luckiest.

Join Otter Tail County Historical Society Executive Director Chris Schuelke this Monday, June 20, 7 p.m. as we explore the murky depths of Lake Alice and its place in Fergus Falls history.