Hrdlicka shares historic tales of Elysian

Chester Hrdlicka of Elysian shared memories of growing up in Elysian at the October 15 Lake Area Historian meeting. Hrdlicka is pictured with his grandfather's old shuttles. (Submitted Photo)

The Lake Area Historians hosted local speaker Chester "Chet" Hrdlicka of Elysian during the organization's October 15 meeting that was held at the Elysian American Legion. Hrdlicka shared "Part 2" of his historic tales of Elysian.

Hrdlicka's grandfather, an immigrant from the Czech Republic, settled in the Elysian area when there was no electricity and Park Street was the Main Street of the British/English community that was called Logan at the time.

His grandfather was a master weaver, and his old spinning wheel was willed to the Elysian Museum. However, Hrdlicka brought a few of his grandfather's shuttles and thread that are at least 130 years old to share with the group.

According to Hrdlicka, the community boasted a variety of enterprises in 1882. They included a steam saw mill, a post office, two general stores, a cement block works, a creamery, three hotels, two black smith shops, a drug store, two barbers, a lumber company, a meat market, a milliner, a realtor, a jeweler (Geo Biser), a cobbler, a newspaper, and summer resort houses.

In 1920, Elysian's population was 354. By 1970, it was up to 445.

Hrdlicka believes his grandfather might have stayed in Logan/Elysian because it was similar to the small hillside town from which they emigrated.

Growing up, Hrdlicka said he and his friends made their own fun and everything was family oriented. They ice skated on Lake Elysian with old clamp-on skates and took turns using a scoop shovel to clean off the ice. He also remembers an island in Lake Francis that you could almost walk to across the lake.

The kids made rubber band guns and always carried a knife.

According to Hrdlicka, Ray’s Lake was a......

To see more on this story pick up the october 25, 2018 print edition of the Life/Enterprise papers. 

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