By George Thorsen
A History in Progress
When I moved to Lake Heritage, I was interested in its history. A man made lake? What man made it? How did he make it? Why did he make it? When did he make it? Well, I had to go to newspaper archives (and other informational scraps) to find even the most basic information.
What I found out was that the lake was created by the American Realty Company of Springfield, Massachusetts which produced forty other man-made lake communities in twenty-eight states. Reading the biographical sketches of early Lake Heritage pioneers, once they sold off a good chunk of their property, the American Realty Company packed their bags and moved out of town. Nobody missed them very much.
Our 50th Anniversary
The lake was “born” in 1965 and 2015 was its Semicentennial. Of course, man-made lakes are not born but rather created so there is a little wiggle room about the lake’s birthday. The Lake Heritage Community was incorporated on June 23, 1965 but the lake did not fill to 100% of its capacity until March 15, 1967 just three months shy of two years later. Prices were a tad lower in 1965 with a one third acre lot fetching the whopping sum of $2595. The lots did not move like proverbial hot cakes and by July 9, 1965, you got a lot for $1995. Each dollar bought a lot more back then and a brand new Ford Mustang Convertible only set you back $2489.