Posted: 2/5/03

Builder left mark with lakeshore log homes

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Drive around the chain of lakes in Forest Lake and one thing is clearly evident. The lakeshore here today is dotted with beautiful homes rivaling those on prestigious Lake Minnetonka and Gull Lake.

The past decade has produced dramatic growth in the area, including new lake homes and remodeling efforts. Lakeshore living on Forest Lake has become a popular destination for many.

But it is not a new concept. Far from it.

More than six decades ago when Forest Lake was a resort town drawing people from the Twin Cities like a magnet, one builder in particular left a distinctive mark on the lakeshore.

Today, Charles E. Rogers is mostly a forgotten name in Forest Lakeís history. But he is a man who left his mark and helped shape todayís lakeshore living.

From 1935 until his death in 1966, Charlie Rogers built more than 100 log cabin homes on Forest Lake. It was Rogersí style that punctuated the early development of Shadyland Point on Third Lake.

Many of the log homes built by Rogers are gone today. Some have been replaced by new homes. Many other cabins have been remodeled and expanded with only a whisper of what was once a Rogers cabin.

But take a drive out North Shore Trail, navigate North Shore Circle and drive past Sargeant's Point, or go up Jason Ave. N. along the lake. Many of the remaining cabins can be seen in their original stage.

Daughter recalls

ìHe just loved doing it (building),î said JoAnne House, 71, one of three children of Charlie Rogers who grew up in Forest Lake.

Charlie Rogers was a second generation Forest Lake man. He came here in the early 1900s when his father, Charles J. Rogers, moved from Sandusky, OH.

Charles J. Rogers owned property in Forest Lake, including a stately home near the junction of South Shore Drive and US-61. For a number of years, he worked in the iron mines in Hibbing.

He fell victim to tuberculosis in 1911 at age 45. Over time, his son, who was 11 when his father died, inherited much of the land in Forest Lake that his father had owned.

ìSomething attracted them to this area,î House said of the familyís move to Minnesota.

The TB outbreak that claimed the life of Charles J. Rogers in 1911 and another son, Elmer, hit many hard in the area. Charles E. was also inflicted with TB but survived the disease.

The damage to his lungs at an early age left Rogers searching for the perfect climate. The quest drew him to the north shore of Lake Superior when he was in his 20s, House said.

Around 1927 he joined in the partnership of the Cascade Lodge which opened that year near Lutsen. Rogers invested some of his inheritance in the resort project.

By 1930, Rogers became sole owner. With the country locked in a devastating depression, Rogers was quickly exhausting his personal resources to keep the lodge in business.

ìDuring the depression, everything went to pot,î said JoAnneís husband, Bill. ìWe donít know what hard times are today.î

JoAnne House recalls the times were good in the summer and the months when travel from Duluth to Lutsen was possible. The Charles and Ruth Rogers family wintered in Duluth from 1927 until 1933 when they moved back ìto the big houseî on South Shore Drive in Forest Lake, House recalled.

Rogers owned the lodge for two more years before selling the business and property in 1935 to a St. Paul couple for $8000.

New direction in FL

The north shore adventure ended on a financial downside for Rogers but he did not come home from the big lake empty handed. By the time Rogers was back in Forest Lake in 1935, he was ready to build log homes that resembled the cabins he had built as rental properties on the lodge site.

Utilizing many of the building sites he owned on the lake, Rogers crafted log cabins that were perfect for summer or year-round homes, his daughter said.

ìThe origin of the style was from up north,î JoAnne House said.

In his first decade of building, about 40 of the log homes were constructed, including a number in the bay area of Forest Lake.

The homes usually ran about 900 to 1000 square feet and had three to five rooms, including two bedrooms. The cabins were built on frost footings with crawl space foundations. Many had fireplaces and large bay windows fronting the lake.

JoAnne House described the interiors as ìwarm and inviting.î The detail, she said, was meticulous.

Bill House, also a builder and developer, marvels at the perfection of his father-in-law. Most of the homes were half-log design. When pieced together, the half-log sections of wood were carefully sealed on the inside leaving a finished flat wall on the interior.

And Rogers was the builder from start to finish. Rogers milled his own logs at a sawmill housed in a barn on North Shore Trail. A vacant lot next to the home in Forest Lake was used to store building supplies.

2nd phase

Rogers hit a second phase of cabin building here in the post-World War II years. During the war, virtually no building took place. For several years, he worked in a duplicator plant in what is today the Forest Lake Printing building.

But when the war ended, Rogers moved forward with vigor as a contractor.

His second phase was keyed on Shadyland Point on Third Lake. In 1949, he partnered with Myles Giese of Wyoming and the late E.R. McClintick to buy 100 acres of lakeshore property.

The plan called for the construction of 47 homes on Shadyland Point and adjacent land. At the time, the land and finished home sold for about $10,000.

It was the same year that the family moved from town to a new home, a two-story log home, on what is today Sargeant's Point. Rogers constructed an elegant log home on the lot which at the time was known as Rogers Point.

The point is in the narrows between first and second lakes.

Fire destroyed the $35,000 home in 1955.

Only two lots in the original Shadyland plat remained when Rogers died suddenly in 1966 while visiting in Grand Marais.

Bill and JoAnne House eventually acquired the balance of the land in Shadyland Point and continued the Rogers home building business, but did not construct log homes. They developed an additional 25 lots.

JoAnne today

As a long-time resident of Forest Lake, JoAnne House can reflect on how life might have been different without the depression. Had times not been tough, the family might not have moved back, she said.

In the long run, she says, the move back to Forest Lake was a good move for JoAnneís sister, Henrietta (Olson) and Charles Jr. Henrietta lives in St. Paul today and Charles is in Lake Tahoe, CA.

The Rogers cabin legacy is fading as more and more of the quaint cabins give way to new homes or are remodeled. For some summer residents, however, the original style continues.

JoAnne is convinced the beauty of the north shore of Lake Superior influenced his style in building homes here. As he built cozy cabins throughout the area, he was a forerunner for the swank homes that would follow, she believes.

ìYou could always tell that he was so happy doing this work,î she said. ìThe reason these homes were on these lots was the water.î

As she travels the streets of Forest Lake today, JoAnne takes pride when one of her fatherís cabins comes into view and her mind flashes back to her father.

ìItís a pleasure to see them,î she said. ìThey remind me I had a very good dad.î

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