The desire that “the farm” as all our family refers to it should continue to be a place for fun out-of-doors, for learning about nature, a place where one could escape pressure of our lives and revive one’s spirit in the peace and quiet of the land.” – Margaret Wonser
Key Site Activities Over the Years
1836 Dr. John Beach, Margaret’s great, great, great grandfather bought the land as part of a quarter section. He came to Michigan by covered wagon with 20 cows, several oxen, and 5 or 6 horses. He was a doctor of medicine with a practice from Union City to Bellevue to Marshall. He went back to New York where he died in 1840.
1840 The first brick house on Beckley Rd. was built on the North end of the property for a family member. The land has been handed down from mother to daughter with Margaret being the last family member to own some of the land.
1896 The Minges Brook drain project was completed. The farm was worked by tenant farmers who raised horses and field crops.
1937 Floyd and Margaret Wonsor moved back to the farm. They planed the spruce and pine trees that are new part of evergreen ridge. During some of the years on the farm Floyd ran a farm equipment business.
We have a 5 page history of the owners and how the farm was passed down researched and written by Floyd Wonser.
1947 Minges Brook flooded.
1948 Small firs and sugar maples were planted. They also raised cattle on the property.
May 24, 1972 Floyd and Margaret Wonser donate 54 acres off S. Minges Rd to Lakeview Kiwanis Club in partnership with the Lakeview Schools as a Conservation Reserve.
1973 Dedicated as a conservation education reserve registered with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
1973-74 Lakeview Kiwanis with help from KCC students built a 24’x28’ A frame building along with a number of picnic tables and a barbecue pit. They also built an entry shelter, two outhouses, two U-shaped seating areas for teachers and students to use, along with a platform over the creek for students to collect water samples. The platform is no longer in place.
1973-2004 Lakeview school students used the outdoor center for science field trips spring and fall.
Tad VanderVoort, a science teacher at Lakeview, ran day camps for 5-12 year olds for six weeks in the summer. He also worked part-time at the Outdoor Center working with the elementary students in the fall and spring.
He cut most of the trails we now have and maintained them for use by the schools.
1974-76 Kiwanis built the entry shelter for students. Also built men’s and women’s outhouses. Built 2 u-shaped seating areas for teachers and students to use. Built an overlook on Minges Creek for students to use for collecting water samples.
Kiwanis purchased granite markers to honor 3 former Kiwanians Jack Lamy, Howard Cole, and Ken Krohn. The only whole one remaining is Ken Krohn.
May 20th 1983 Lakeview Kiwanis purchases 5 acres adjoining the northeast side of the property.
1998 Harvested hardwood trees and sold the logs. Gary Graham our treasurer at the time was in charge of that event.
2004 The bridge over Minges Creek collapsed and it marked the end of Lakeview schools sending their students to use our Outdoor Center.
2005 and 2006 Nothing happened at the Outdoor Center because the bridge over Minges Creek was out.
2006-2007 Received a $10,000 grant from the Battle Creek Community Foundation.
Part of the money was used to buy the culvert and the drain commission cleared out the old bridge and installed the culvert. A ford tractor, a woods finish mower, and a rear blade were also purchased to help maintain the Outdoor Center.
April 2007 Kiwanis held a ribbon cutting ceremony to reopen the Bridge.
2007 Rice Well Drilling put a new well in with a safe pump and the water was tested.
2007 Jim Hoffman spent a week taking out autumn olive, and other invasive species on the north side of the prairie with his end loader.
2007 A Scout built 2 bat houses that were installed in the prairie. He also planted some trees.
2007 Planted 200 Pine and Spruce trees in a u shape around the newly planted grass area as a windbreak. The 1 acre plot inside the trees could be used for scout camping in the future.
Purchased a Ford tractor from the Battle Creek Downtown Club.
2008 Kiwanis built and installed 2 cedar bluebird houses.
Built storage building for tractor and other equipment.
1 acre in the meadow was tilled and planted to grass. Got rid of the autumn olive and can be used for camping.
Eagle Scout Project built fence around new well and poured a concrete platform around the well.
Kiwanis purchased and planted 50 hybrid walnut trees.
2010 Scouts built and installed a wood duck nesting box on the edge of Minges Creek.
Kiwanis made and installed 5 bluebird houses in the prairie area.
Soil Conservation service operated Camp Kiwanis a day camp for 5-12 year olds.
Hosted the Boy Scout Klondike Derby.
2011 Soil Conservation service operated Camp Kiwanis a day camp for 5-12 year olds.
2 picnic tables and the A frame were burned completely. Caught the individual and prosecuted.
Bought compost from Marshall Compost and put around evergreen trees and walnut trees.
Fertilized walnut trees and put sulfur around evergreen trees.
Fall sprayed the Prairie area to kill all vegetation in preparation for starting a prairie restoration program. This was part of a Fish and Wildlife project to return the prairie to its original species of 14 wildflowers and 4 different prairie grasses. The whole project was done by Fish and Wildlife at no cost to the Kiwanis club.
Boy Scout Jamboree for all scout troops in SW Michigan organized by John Harris, Scoutmaster Troop—
Which included 275 scouts, leaders, and family members.
The A frame building was burned completely. It was arson and the culprit was caught and punished. Using pictures of building of the A frame we were able to get almost enough money to build our present 24’x60’ building.
2012 Kiwanis had a new 24×60 dual use building built by Joe Newman Construction.
24’x30’ is a concrete block building with a truss roof and composite shingles which extends another 30’ and has open sides to be a pavilion. The complete building has a concrete floor.
Kiwanis landscaped around the building with crushed asphalt, top soil, and grass seed.
Kiwanis held a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the new building. 80+ people were in attendance.
Burned the wood piles that Jim Hoffman made while clearing the north west area of autumn olive and multiflora rose.
In the spring sprayed prairie area to kill any vegetation not killed in the fall. This was part of the Project by fish and wildlife grant to establish an original species as would have been found when the land was first settled.
Planted prairie grasses Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian grass, side oats gamma grass along with 14 varieties of prairie forbs.
Eagle Scout Project built a fire ring with an adjustable grill to the south of the new building.
Eagle Scout Project – A Kiosk was built just inside the entrance to the Outdoor Center and information regarding the Outdoor Center has been placed in it,
2013 Kiwanis members painted the new buildings steel doors and the post in the pavilion.
Kiwanis members painted the steel doors to the tractor building and the interior wall of the building.
We installed 2 permanent bases for flag poles along with a pole and the American flag on the west side of the new building.
Kiwanis received $1300 of electrical equipment for the new building.
We talked with NCRS about getting some money to improve our forested area at the Outdoor Center.
We had to establish that we were farm land before we could apply for funds to improve our forested area.
Kiwanis applied for a grant from NCRS to do a forest management plan for our forested area.
We received a 3 year grant to remove invasive species from the forested area for a total of $14,000
Kiwanis purchased a brush Hog from Wells Equipment in Litchfield for $1500.
We used the brush hog to mow the prairie because the autumn olive was growing so big.
2014 Chris DeHulster a forester marked 5 walnut trees for thinning and were sold to the highest bidder.
We added 3/8” plexiglass over the skylights on the building to prevent breaking the glass for security purposes.
Eagle scout project put a new roof on both mens and womens outhouses.
Installed electric wiring with ceiling lights and wall outlets that can be operated with a generator or from the power grid.
Kiwanians painted the bathroom interiors
As part of the forest management plan 140 trees were marked by the forester and removed. Most were pine trees and we received $2500 from the logger.
The purpose was to open up the canopy and give room for the remaining trees to grow.
2015 The first year of our grant to control invasive species autumn olive, oriental bittersweet, and multiflora rose.
We used a 15gal. pull behind sprayer the first year to spray mgt areas 1 and 5.
We also used tractor with a bucket to push autumn olive out of soft ground.
Mowed the prairie to control the autumn olive growing there.
3 Boy Scout Troops and a Church group used the outdoor center for their activities.
Wayne Slack for his Eagle Scout project built 3 very nice solid wood picnic tables.
2016 2nd year of the NCRS grant to control invasive species.
Kiwanis bought a 65 gal. sprayer to make our job easier and more efficient.
Used tractor with bucket to remove autumn olive where the soil was soft.
We did mgt areas 3 and 4.
Brian Hoffman brought a chipper to chip up branches and small logs along the main road from the entrance to the outhouses.
2017 3rd year of NCRS grant to control invasive species,
We used tractor with bucket to remove autumn olive from soft soils.
We sprayed mgt area and did remedial spraying in other areas.
We mowed the prairie 2 times to control the autumn olive.
2018 Purchased a 4430 John Deere tractor hydrostatic drive with a bucket for $13,000. It was paid for with a grant from Consumers Power, donations from Brian Hoffman and Jim Hoffman along with trading in the Ford tractor we owned.
The forester marked 29 trees to be removed some due to maturity and others to open the canopy. Most of the trees were walnut, oak and cherry and a local sawmill had the highest bid.
Over the winter 3 different people cut the remaining branches for firewood.
Mowed the prairie 3 times to control the autumn olive.
Sandblasted and painted the old entry gate which brought it back to life.
Installed the entry gate with new posts installed in concrete and a new locking system using the same padlock.
Piled and burned most of the down wood west and north of the bridge.
Cleared branches out of the culvert so water could flow. The person doing this was hit with a deluge of water when the branches came loose and went flying downstream and fortunately was able to get ashore.
2019 Burned piles of down logs and branches.
Paid the forester to plant 200 walnut, oak, and maple trees west and north of the bridge.
A logger harvested 29 trees that were marked by the forester to open up the canopy or were mature for marketable logs.
2020 and 2021 were challenging years for the Outdoor Center. Our greatest disappointment was the loss of visitors over 2018. Our occupancy rate was substantially down from previous years. In 2019 we hosted 5 youth groups for 11 days with 106 young people. In 2020 we hosted 3 youth groups for 5 days with 26 young people. In 2021 we hosted 5 youth groups for 10 days with about 100 young people. This utilization reduction was mainly due to the restrictions and quarantines brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to this reduction in site utilization, we made several attempts to market our facility in 2021. One such attempt consisted of a one-day Open House, in which we invited a wide range of local supporters, youth organizations, Church groups, business and civic leaders, and news organizations, etc. Although this event was not heavily attended, we were able to showcase our facility to those who were there and received positive feedback.
We raised money for the implementation of our major electrification project in 2019 and implemented the project in 2020. We connected running water from our existing well to the pavilion in 2021. In order to keep the new water supply from freezing during the winter, we added an insulated and heated utility room into the pavilion building. We also added general outdoor lighting to the pavilion picnic area.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we found ourselves holding our meetings at the Outdoor Center. We insulated the building ceiling and added propane heat to the interior to make those meetings possible during the winter.
We continued the Outdoor Center upkeep at a high standard in spite of the reduction of formal utilization. Significant efforts were made to remove fallen trees, branches, and brush that were choking the property and making large areas inaccessible. This activity will continue for the foreseeable future. We were able to maintain the walking trails for the benefit of many local residents, who continued to use the site to escape Covid confinements, or started using it for the first time. We repurposed the prairie from an open mowed field into a wildlife conservation area and mounted 4 birdhouses in the area. We continued mowing the reforested area between the pavilion and the creek to protect the trees that were newly planted in that area. We started a program of identifying and protecting hardwood saplings that were springing up throughout the forest, to allow it to keep replenishing itself naturally. This work will continue indefinitely with the goal of eventually mowing around these small trees to keep the weeds and brambles down. Our Autumn Olive eradication program continued in earnest during this period.
We worked with an Eagle Scout candidate in 2019 to renew all the trail signs and installed them in 2020. A second Eagle Scout candidate designed and installed a seating area around our fire pit in 2020 and a third Eagle Scout candidate designed and installed a new split rail fence around our entry parking lot.
2022 saw the design and installation of the Larry Youst walking bridge across Minges Creek, joining the walking trails on the east and west side of the creek.
We were also blessed with major road and parking lot improvements through a generous donation from Hoffman Bros. Inc.
Additional volunteer services resulted in improved trail and picnic / seating / campfire area maintenance.
We continued our efforts to attract additional visitors and youth groups to the site.
We entered into a Conservation Stewardship Program with the USDA to improve overall land use by continuing our ongoing invasive specs eradication program, improving wildlife habitat, and providing cover for pollinators and beneficial insects.
Timeline
The Wonser Legacy
The desire that “the farm” as all our family refers to it should continue to be a place for fun out-of-doors, for learning about nature, a place where one could escape pressure of our lives and revive one’s spirit in the peace and quiet of the land.” – Margaret Wonser
Key Site Activities Over the Years
1836 Dr. John Beach, Margaret’s great, great, great grandfather bought the land as part of a quarter section. He came to Michigan by covered wagon with 20 cows, several oxen, and 5 or 6 horses. He was a doctor of medicine with a practice from Union City to Bellevue to Marshall. He went back to New York where he died in 1840.
1840 The first brick house on Beckley Rd. was built on the North end of the property for a family member. The land has been handed down from mother to daughter with Margaret being the last family member to own some of the land.
1896 The Minges Brook drain project was completed. The farm was worked by tenant farmers who raised horses and field crops.
1937 Floyd and Margaret Wonsor moved back to the farm. They planed the spruce and pine trees that are new part of evergreen ridge. During some of the years on the farm Floyd ran a farm equipment business.
We have a 5 page history of the owners and how the farm was passed down researched and written by Floyd Wonser.
1947 Minges Brook flooded.
1948 Small firs and sugar maples were planted. They also raised cattle on the property.
May 24, 1972 Floyd and Margaret Wonser donate 54 acres off S. Minges Rd to Lakeview Kiwanis Club in partnership with the Lakeview Schools as a Conservation Reserve.
1973 Dedicated as a conservation education reserve registered with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
1973-74 Lakeview Kiwanis with help from KCC students built a 24’x28’ A frame building along with a number of picnic tables and a barbecue pit. They also built an entry shelter, two outhouses, two U-shaped seating areas for teachers and students to use, along with a platform over the creek for students to collect water samples. The platform is no longer in place.
1973-2004 Lakeview school students used the outdoor center for science field trips spring and fall.
Tad VanderVoort, a science teacher at Lakeview, ran day camps for 5-12 year olds for six weeks in the summer. He also worked part-time at the Outdoor Center working with the elementary students in the fall and spring.
He cut most of the trails we now have and maintained them for use by the schools.
1974-76 Kiwanis built the entry shelter for students. Also built men’s and women’s outhouses. Built 2 u-shaped seating areas for teachers and students to use. Built an overlook on Minges Creek for students to use for collecting water samples.
Kiwanis purchased granite markers to honor 3 former Kiwanians Jack Lamy, Howard Cole, and Ken Krohn. The only whole one remaining is Ken Krohn.
May 20th 1983 Lakeview Kiwanis purchases 5 acres adjoining the northeast side of the property.
1998 Harvested hardwood trees and sold the logs. Gary Graham our treasurer at the time was in charge of that event.
2004 The bridge over Minges Creek collapsed and it marked the end of Lakeview schools sending their students to use our Outdoor Center.
2005 and 2006 Nothing happened at the Outdoor Center because the bridge over Minges Creek was out.
2006-2007 Received a $10,000 grant from the Battle Creek Community Foundation.
Part of the money was used to buy the culvert and the drain commission cleared out the old bridge and installed the culvert. A ford tractor, a woods finish mower, and a rear blade were also purchased to help maintain the Outdoor Center.
April 2007 Kiwanis held a ribbon cutting ceremony to reopen the Bridge.
2007 Rice Well Drilling put a new well in with a safe pump and the water was tested.
2007 Jim Hoffman spent a week taking out autumn olive, and other invasive species on the north side of the prairie with his end loader.
2007 A Scout built 2 bat houses that were installed in the prairie. He also planted some trees.
2007 Planted 200 Pine and Spruce trees in a u shape around the newly planted grass area as a windbreak. The 1 acre plot inside the trees could be used for scout camping in the future.
Purchased a Ford tractor from the Battle Creek Downtown Club.
2008 Kiwanis built and installed 2 cedar bluebird houses.
Built storage building for tractor and other equipment.
1 acre in the meadow was tilled and planted to grass. Got rid of the autumn olive and can be used for camping.
Eagle Scout Project built fence around new well and poured a concrete platform around the well.
Kiwanis purchased and planted 50 hybrid walnut trees.
2010 Scouts built and installed a wood duck nesting box on the edge of Minges Creek.
Kiwanis made and installed 5 bluebird houses in the prairie area.
Soil Conservation service operated Camp Kiwanis a day camp for 5-12 year olds.
Hosted the Boy Scout Klondike Derby.
2011 Soil Conservation service operated Camp Kiwanis a day camp for 5-12 year olds.
2 picnic tables and the A frame were burned completely. Caught the individual and prosecuted.
Bought compost from Marshall Compost and put around evergreen trees and walnut trees.
Fertilized walnut trees and put sulfur around evergreen trees.
Fall sprayed the Prairie area to kill all vegetation in preparation for starting a prairie restoration program. This was part of a Fish and Wildlife project to return the prairie to its original species of 14 wildflowers and 4 different prairie grasses. The whole project was done by Fish and Wildlife at no cost to the Kiwanis club.
Boy Scout Jamboree for all scout troops in SW Michigan organized by John Harris, Scoutmaster Troop—
Which included 275 scouts, leaders, and family members.
The A frame building was burned completely. It was arson and the culprit was caught and punished. Using pictures of building of the A frame we were able to get almost enough money to build our present 24’x60’ building.
2012 Kiwanis had a new 24×60 dual use building built by Joe Newman Construction.
24’x30’ is a concrete block building with a truss roof and composite shingles which extends another 30’ and has open sides to be a pavilion. The complete building has a concrete floor.
Kiwanis landscaped around the building with crushed asphalt, top soil, and grass seed.
Kiwanis held a ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the new building. 80+ people were in attendance.
Burned the wood piles that Jim Hoffman made while clearing the north west area of autumn olive and multiflora rose.
In the spring sprayed prairie area to kill any vegetation not killed in the fall. This was part of the Project by fish and wildlife grant to establish an original species as would have been found when the land was first settled.
Planted prairie grasses Big Bluestem, Little Bluestem, Indian grass, side oats gamma grass along with 14 varieties of prairie forbs.
Eagle Scout Project built a fire ring with an adjustable grill to the south of the new building.
Eagle Scout Project – A Kiosk was built just inside the entrance to the Outdoor Center and information regarding the Outdoor Center has been placed in it,
2013 Kiwanis members painted the new buildings steel doors and the post in the pavilion.
Kiwanis members painted the steel doors to the tractor building and the interior wall of the building.
We installed 2 permanent bases for flag poles along with a pole and the American flag on the west side of the new building.
Kiwanis received $1300 of electrical equipment for the new building.
We talked with NCRS about getting some money to improve our forested area at the Outdoor Center.
We had to establish that we were farm land before we could apply for funds to improve our forested area.
Kiwanis applied for a grant from NCRS to do a forest management plan for our forested area.
We received a 3 year grant to remove invasive species from the forested area for a total of $14,000
Kiwanis purchased a brush Hog from Wells Equipment in Litchfield for $1500.
We used the brush hog to mow the prairie because the autumn olive was growing so big.
2014 Chris DeHulster a forester marked 5 walnut trees for thinning and were sold to the highest bidder.
We added 3/8” plexiglass over the skylights on the building to prevent breaking the glass for security purposes.
Eagle scout project put a new roof on both mens and womens outhouses.
Installed electric wiring with ceiling lights and wall outlets that can be operated with a generator or from the power grid.
Kiwanians painted the bathroom interiors
As part of the forest management plan 140 trees were marked by the forester and removed. Most were pine trees and we received $2500 from the logger.
The purpose was to open up the canopy and give room for the remaining trees to grow.
2015 The first year of our grant to control invasive species autumn olive, oriental bittersweet, and multiflora rose.
We used a 15gal. pull behind sprayer the first year to spray mgt areas 1 and 5.
We also used tractor with a bucket to push autumn olive out of soft ground.
Mowed the prairie to control the autumn olive growing there.
3 Boy Scout Troops and a Church group used the outdoor center for their activities.
Wayne Slack for his Eagle Scout project built 3 very nice solid wood picnic tables.
2016 2nd year of the NCRS grant to control invasive species.
Kiwanis bought a 65 gal. sprayer to make our job easier and more efficient.
Used tractor with bucket to remove autumn olive where the soil was soft.
We did mgt areas 3 and 4.
Brian Hoffman brought a chipper to chip up branches and small logs along the main road from the entrance to the outhouses.
2017 3rd year of NCRS grant to control invasive species,
We used tractor with bucket to remove autumn olive from soft soils.
We sprayed mgt area and did remedial spraying in other areas.
We mowed the prairie 2 times to control the autumn olive.
2018 Purchased a 4430 John Deere tractor hydrostatic drive with a bucket for $13,000. It was paid for with a grant from Consumers Power, donations from Brian Hoffman and Jim Hoffman along with trading in the Ford tractor we owned.
The forester marked 29 trees to be removed some due to maturity and others to open the canopy. Most of the trees were walnut, oak and cherry and a local sawmill had the highest bid.
Over the winter 3 different people cut the remaining branches for firewood.
Mowed the prairie 3 times to control the autumn olive.
Sandblasted and painted the old entry gate which brought it back to life.
Installed the entry gate with new posts installed in concrete and a new locking system using the same padlock.
Piled and burned most of the down wood west and north of the bridge.
Cleared branches out of the culvert so water could flow. The person doing this was hit with a deluge of water when the branches came loose and went flying downstream and fortunately was able to get ashore.
2019 Burned piles of down logs and branches.
Paid the forester to plant 200 walnut, oak, and maple trees west and north of the bridge.
A logger harvested 29 trees that were marked by the forester to open up the canopy or were mature for marketable logs.
2020 and 2021 were challenging years for the Outdoor Center. Our greatest disappointment was the loss of visitors over 2018. Our occupancy rate was substantially down from previous years. In 2019 we hosted 5 youth groups for 11 days with 106 young people. In 2020 we hosted 3 youth groups for 5 days with 26 young people. In 2021 we hosted 5 youth groups for 10 days with about 100 young people. This utilization reduction was mainly due to the restrictions and quarantines brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Due to this reduction in site utilization, we made several attempts to market our facility in 2021. One such attempt consisted of a one-day Open House, in which we invited a wide range of local supporters, youth organizations, Church groups, business and civic leaders, and news organizations, etc. Although this event was not heavily attended, we were able to showcase our facility to those who were there and received positive feedback.
We raised money for the implementation of our major electrification project in 2019 and implemented the project in 2020. We connected running water from our existing well to the pavilion in 2021. In order to keep the new water supply from freezing during the winter, we added an insulated and heated utility room into the pavilion building. We also added general outdoor lighting to the pavilion picnic area.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic we found ourselves holding our meetings at the Outdoor Center. We insulated the building ceiling and added propane heat to the interior to make those meetings possible during the winter.
We continued the Outdoor Center upkeep at a high standard in spite of the reduction of formal utilization. Significant efforts were made to remove fallen trees, branches, and brush that were choking the property and making large areas inaccessible. This activity will continue for the foreseeable future. We were able to maintain the walking trails for the benefit of many local residents, who continued to use the site to escape Covid confinements, or started using it for the first time. We repurposed the prairie from an open mowed field into a wildlife conservation area and mounted 4 birdhouses in the area. We continued mowing the reforested area between the pavilion and the creek to protect the trees that were newly planted in that area. We started a program of identifying and protecting hardwood saplings that were springing up throughout the forest, to allow it to keep replenishing itself naturally. This work will continue indefinitely with the goal of eventually mowing around these small trees to keep the weeds and brambles down. Our Autumn Olive eradication program continued in earnest during this period.
We worked with an Eagle Scout candidate in 2019 to renew all the trail signs and installed them in 2020. A second Eagle Scout candidate designed and installed a seating area around our fire pit in 2020 and a third Eagle Scout candidate designed and installed a new split rail fence around our entry parking lot.
2022 saw the design and installation of the Larry Youst walking bridge across Minges Creek, joining the walking trails on the east and west side of the creek.
We were also blessed with major road and parking lot improvements through a generous donation from Hoffman Bros. Inc.
Additional volunteer services resulted in improved trail and picnic / seating / campfire area maintenance.
We continued our efforts to attract additional visitors and youth groups to the site.
We entered into a Conservation Stewardship Program with the USDA to improve overall land use by continuing our ongoing invasive specs eradication program, improving wildlife habitat, and providing cover for pollinators and beneficial insects.