This park is Reba Gilliand and husband Craig Haukebo’s neighborhood park, and they love its rich history.

This charming piece of land, stretching from here to the shore of West Battle Lake, has seen many a change. Early on, Native Americans fished and camped at this location over years of summering in the area.

In 1895, Swedish immigrant Lars Larson built a two-story boathouse on the shore, celebrating with a grand opening in 1908. His fleet of boats, including a 34-foot passenger launch called "The Lady of the Lake," offered many an opportunity to spend an afternoon on West Battle Lake.

In 1939, Ellsworth Swenson gave the land new life when he replaced this Boat House with a large building consisting of living quarters and restaurant and added tourist cabins and a large dock, called “Swenson’s Beach Lodge.”

With a 1946 change in ownership, the lodge became “Sand Bay Resort” and remained so for 72 years through several owners, the last of whom privatized the sixteen-cabin resort in 2018. Since then, individual owners have modernized the rustic cabins, adding second and even third stories on tiny footprints.

Thus, over two-centuries, this land transitioned from natural habitat to local recreation to tourist resort to small private holdings, like has happened to so many Minnesota resorts.

Meanwhile, the land between the road and lake has seen its own changes. From 1897 until 1966 thousands of people from across Otter Tail and surrounding counties gathered for Old Settlers’ Picnics. Initially, reunions took place at various county locations but in1915 Battle Lake became the permanent site due to its central location and “most beautiful parks.”

Today the land is a city park thanks to a local women’s group. The Battle Lake Women’s Progressive Club. It was founded in 1929 with the objective of “promoting the welfare of the home and community.” The Club purchased this land in 1939 for $300 and donated it to the city to be, according to the newspaper, “beautified and made into a fine park.”

Lakes Area Community & Commerce, another nonprofit organization, updated the park with new signage and playground equipment over 2024-2025 making this neighborhood park with its public beach and dock a great Battle Lake asset.