1846 – Woods Trail Section of Red River Oxcart Trail
1870 – Official Survey of Detroit and Lakeview Townships; about 150 persons live in vicinity of area to become Detroit
1871 - Northern Pacific Railway is completed to Detroit (then called Tylertown).
1872 – Detroit Townsite Platted, straddling Northern Pacific Railroad; little access to Detroit Lake
1880 – St. Louis Club Rod and Gun Club (aka St. Louis Club, (AKA Smithville, and The Clubhouse).
1888 – Pelican River Navigation Company begins service from Detroit Dock to Shoreham; channel cut through sandbar
1890 –Area population exceeds 2000
1898 – Breezy Point Plat Filed (lots on either side of Allen’s Point).
1905 – Summit, Lake, and Washington are connected to Lake Boulevard (now West Lake Drive)
1907 – City Park purchased (12 acres along Washington Avenue and fronting Little Detroit); land had previously belonged to city, but sold to developer for hotel construction. Hotel burned before completion.
1911 – City plat shows Lakeshore Boulevard; Starting before 1911, and continuing to 1950, city’s water supply is taken from Little Detroit Lake; area population exceeds 4000
1915 - Pavilion Opens.
1916 - Detroit Lakes Country Club developed
1918 – Lake St. Clair drained because of accumulation of sewage odors near downtown Detroit; Pelican River Navigation Company ceases operations.
1926 – Detroit renamed Detroit Lakes; Washington Avenue and West Lake Drive are paved routes carrying both Highway 59 and 34; stormwater from these pavements is drained to lake.
1929 – First Detroit Lakes sewage treatment plant constructed; Minnesota, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Madison connected to Lake Blvd.
1930 – Area population exceeds 5000
1935 – WPA begins work on park’s tennis courts and baseball diamond; city builds small dam at Little Detroit outlet to prevent sewage discharged to Pelican River from backing up into the lake.
1935/36 – East Lake Drive (later called North Shore Drive) extended across Pelican River to Hwy 10; Cottages at Edgewater built
1937 – Dunton Locks and dam rebuilt by WPA
1938 - City moved Lake Boulevard (also known as East Lake Drive, now North Shore Drive) northward from next to the Pavilion to present location
1940 – Area population exceeds 7500
1941 - City’s sewage treatment plant improved – sewage discharged into a ditch to Pelican River
1943 -- Serious ice damage along north shores of Detroit Lake
1944 - Detroit Lakes Property Owners Association established (LDA predecessor)
1945 – “Green days” (algae blooms) observed
1948 - East Lake Drive (now North Shore Drive) is paved
1949 - DLPOA Ends, LDA begins
1950 – Area population exceeds 8000
