Otsego Lake Township
10584 South Old 27
P.O. Box 99
Waters, MI 49797
Phone : 989-732-6929
Fax : 989-731-0926
Office Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Otsego Lake Township
Fire Department
10499 South Old 27
Waters, MI 49797
Phone : 989-732-1859
Fax : 989-732-1829
Historical Context (Page 2)
In 1927 Mrs. Edna Schotte, the matriarch of Waters and postmaster from 1930 to 1946, and her late husband, purchased 1,800 acres, including the village. The Schotte’s re-established the post office and when liquor was legalized in 1936, Mrs. Schotte and her husband were the first in the county to receive a tavern license. They built the “Glass Bottle Fence Gardens” tavern. In 1970 this old landmark fell victim to fire. After the old depot was razed, a lumberyard and warehouse did business on the site. Mrs. Schotte said they set up a sawmill on the lake where they salvaged hundreds of deadheads (sunken logs) and made them into lumber.
In the early 1920’s the Heart Lake Club, a group of land speculators, bought the old Stephans dairy barn on the edge of town and converted it into a hotel, lounge and dining room. The enterprise closed during the depression and remained vacant for several years. With the start of the tourist boom in the 1940’s, the hotel was reopened as the “Wassir Hoff” and became known statewide.
With the deterioration of the old bottle fence due to vandalism, and the construction of the expressway that bypassed the town, tourism for the area decreased as evidenced by the old hotel standing empty again for several years until late 1970 when it was again purchased and opened for business.
During reconstruction, the hotel fell victim to suspected wiring problems, and was completely destroyed in a fire in 1972. The loss of the Waters Inn (the old dairy barn), antique organ, and hand-pump fire wagon was also a loss of some of the local history.
In 1935 the old Stephan home, then occupied by Harley Kennedy, was destroyed by fire. Most of the other buildings suffered the same fate over the years.
Today, many resorts exist in the area and once more there are about a dozen business places in the village. Mrs. Schotte donated the site of the old Stephan home and the glass bottle fence to Otsego Lake Township for use as a fire hall and community building with the stipulation that the old bottle fence be restored. Unfortunately the bottle fence fell in to such a state of disrepair, that it was deemed not restorable. However, in order to preserve the history, the Township created the historical display located at the Township Hall.
1 The name Stephens had several spellings. Henry, Sr. used “Stephens” the original spelling. Old
timers and residents often spelled it “Stevens”, and Henry, Jr. spelled it “Stephans”.