Herman & Lela Wilson / Wilson House

Herman & Lela Wilson / Wilson House is a Michigan historical marker in Idlewild, Lake County, dedicated 2009.

6583 S. Paradise Path, Idlewild

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In 1915 Herman and Lela Wilson came to Yates Township with twenty-five people from Chicago to inspect the real estate that would become the African American resort of Idlewild. The Wilsons promoted and sold property in Idlewild. In 1921 they moved here permanently. Between July 1922 and August 1925 the couple platted three subdivisions, giving the streets names such as paradise Path, Righteous Road, Wisdom Way and Kindness Avenue. Wilson House Built in 1927, this fieldstone bungalow reflects the prominence of its first occupants, Herman and Lela Wilson, who were among Idlewild’s early promoters and developers. The Wilsons owned motels, seasonal cottages, and a grocery store located behind their house until they built a market kitty-corner from here in 1948. The Wilsons also owned the Paradise Club, which stood directly across Wilson Drive. The club’s Fiesta Room featured the Idlewild Revue, a nationally known floorshow.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1873 · (Map of Lake County, Michigan) (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1897 · Southern Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1907 · Map of the original swamp areas of the lower peninsula of Michigan. : 1907. Compiled from… (University of Michigan Library)
1911 · Map of the surface formations of the Southern Peninsula of Michigan (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1926 · Rand McNally Official 1926 Auto Road Map: Special Around Lake Michigan (The Chicago… (University of Chicago Library, Mapping Chicagoland · CC BY-NC 4.0, used by permission)

(Map of Lake County, Michigan), 1873, covering the location of Herman & Lela Wilson / Wilson House, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — (Map of Lake County, Michigan), 1873, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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