Geneva Lake Audio Tours

Geneva Lake Audio Tours Download the self-guided GPS activated audio tour around the shore path of Geneva Lake.

Did you know in the late 1800s on the shores of Geneva Lake stood a hotel larger than the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island...
01/18/2024

Did you know in the late 1800s on the shores of Geneva Lake stood a hotel larger than the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island? 🤔

Called Pishcotaqua Park House Hotel, it opened in 1880 and was the largest in the Midwest. It was a stunning hotel with verandas on every level and it should have been a roaring success. But the hotel struggled to survive financially going through multiple owners and a foreclosure. Operating as a temperance resort likely didn’t help. When brewer John Cooke acquired the hotel 1890 that changed immediately. Cooke brought in alcohol and changed the name to Cooke Parke Villa Hotel.

Just when the Hotel looked like it was turning the corner, in 1891 parts of it were destroyed by a fire. The hotel was remodeled and rebuilt only to be completely destroyed the following year by another fire. But Cooke loved the area so much he converted the surviving billiards hall into his home and called it Ara Glen. It still stands today as a residence. Eventually the property was subdivided and now you'll find Knollwood subdivision and Ara Glen subdivision on either side.

Listen to more great stories like this one as you walk the path with the VoiceMap app.

https://voicemap.me/tour/lake-geneva-wisconsin/geneva-lake-shore-path-audio-guide-21-miles-of-stories
Photos courtesy of Lake Geneva Public Library

Part 3. If you missed Parts 1&2 about Jeremy Piven's connection to Lake Geneva you can get there with the link in the c...
01/06/2024

Part 3. If you missed Parts 1&2 about Jeremy Piven's connection to Lake Geneva you can get there with the link in the comments.👇

The Selfridges hired prominent Chicago architect Henry Lord Gay to design Harrose Hall and construction was completed in 1899. Gay designed several Lake Geneva estates including Stone Manor, the Echoes and Maple Lawn to name a few.

The Selfridges’ love of the lake kept them returning for several summers even after their move to England to open Selfridges’ Department Store.

The Whiting family purchased Harrose Hall sometime in the 1920s and they changed the name to Somerset. The house was eventually torn down in 1975 and it is now the Somerset subdivision.

For more great lake stories get the VoiceMap App tour and hear the stories as you walk the path.

https://voicemap.me/tour/lake-geneva-wisconsin/geneva-lake-shore-path-audio-guide-21-miles-of-stories

Part 2. If you missed Part 1 about Jeremy Piven's connection to Lake Geneva you can get there with the link in the comm...
12/30/2023

Part 2. If you missed Part 1 about Jeremy Piven's connection to Lake Geneva you can get there with the link in the comments.

Selfridge is one of the most impactful individuals to live on the lake. His ideas have likely impacted your life in some way. He was a retail genius who revolutionized the department store market. He had too many innovative ideas to list here but here are a few of his best ones. His Big window displays started the concept of window shopping-tempting the onlookers to come inside. He pioneered displays that let the customers handle the merchandise before they purchased them. He started what we now know as a wedding registry. He is credited with opening the first restaurant in a store. And, he is also credited with coining the phrase “the customer is always right” and “there’s only xx days until Christmas”.

Selfridge retired from Marshall Fields after a very lucrative career. While travelling overseas he saw an opportunity in London, England to bring his retail concepts to a new market. He opened Selfridge’s department store (pictured) in 1909 to huge success with reports of 90,000 people showing up to his grand opening. Selfridges is still in operation there today and his techniques have been adopted by modern department stores around the world. Follow us and find out what happened to his Lake Geneva estate Harrose Hall in part 3.

What is Jeremy Piven’s connection to Lake Geneva? 🤷‍♂️Well, Piven portrayed Harry Selfridge on the highly rated tv show ...
12/20/2023

What is Jeremy Piven’s connection to Lake Geneva? 🤷‍♂️

Well, Piven portrayed Harry Selfridge on the highly rated tv show “Mr. Selfridge” on PBS. Mr. Selfridge ran for four seasons, was seen in 165 countries, and has a score of 7.7 on IMDB as of this posting. Piven is quoted as saying it was the best work of his life and his favorite character to play.

So, who is Harry Selfridge?

Harry Selfridge made a name for himself at Marshall Field & Company in Chicago where, over the course of 25 years, he worked his way up from stock boy to manager and in the process became a very wealthy man. Selfridge married Rose Buckingham who came from a wealthy Chicago family. She was the cousin to Clarence F. Buckingham whom the famous Buckingham Fountain was built to memorialize. Harry and Rose built a summer home on Geneva Lake and by combining their first names they called it Harrose Hall.

It was a massive Tudor-style home with over 30 rooms including a grand ballroom, green house, and extensive gardens. But its most notable feature was the Tiffany-style oculus above the grand double staircase.

Follow us and stay tuned for Part 2 and learn more about the retail genius of Harry Selfridge and find out what happened to Harrose Hall.

Get more great Geneva Lake stories like this one on the Shore Path audio guide and hear them as you walk the path.

https://voicemap.me/tour/lake-geneva-wisconsin/geneva-lake-shore-path-audio-guide-21-miles-of-stories

Here’s another one of my favorite stories of Geneva Lake. German immigrant Theodore A. Kochs’ (cokes) drug store was lo...
12/07/2023

Here’s another one of my favorite stories of Geneva Lake. German immigrant Theodore A. Kochs’ (cokes) drug store was lost in the great Chicago fire of 1871. He wasted no time on his next endeavor-to enhance the barber shop experience. He founded Theo A. Kochs Co. in 1871 . His company offered pretty much anything a barber shop would need; combs, shampoos, shaving bowls and brushes, towels, mustache curlers, barber poles and the like. When the company was at its peak, his catalog offered fifty pages of products. But it was his barber chairs that put him on the map. His chairs offered style, innovation, craftmanship, comfort and they eventually dominated the market. Today, restored Theo A. Kochs barber chairs are highly collectible.

The Kochs family vacationed regularly at Kaye's Park on Geneva Lake. And like so many Chicago industry leaders at the time, Kochs set out to build a summer home there. So in 1894 he built Villa Thekla, named after his wife, on Black Point. You can see from the pictures that the home is little changed in over 100 years.

Civil War veteran John C. Fleming purchased the home from the Kochs in 1901. I'll save his story for later.

For more great stories like this one download the audio tour.
https://voicemap.me/tour/lake-geneva-wisconsin/geneva-lake-shore-path-audio-guide-21-miles-of-stories/sites

We have now added photos to the audio tour of some the grand estates that are long since gone. This is Butternuts. Bui...
11/28/2023

We have now added photos to the audio tour of some the grand estates that are long since gone. This is Butternuts. Built by Nathanial Fairbank on the north shore of the lake. It was built in 1875 and torn down in 1955. The land was subdivided and is now Geneva Bay Estates.

Too cold outside to walk the path? You can now take the tour virtually.

Photo courtesy of Lake Geneva Public Library

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