History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties

"History of Lincoln, Oneida, and Vilas Counties Wisconsin"

Compiled by George O.Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others. Printed in 1924 by H.C.Cooper. Jr. & Co., Minneapoli-Winona MN. ill. 787 pages. The first two hundred pages are history of the three counties, the remainder of the book is biographies.

Biography

Bishop, Leo A. who owns and operates Camp Idyle Wyld in partnership with his wife, was born at Berea, Ohio, June 17, 1875, and was educated at that place, graduating from the high school and from a two-year course at Baldwin University there. He then took up electric railroad construction, building the lines between Berea and Cleveland and from Cleveland to Elyria, Ohio, and also the Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha line in Wisconsin, the line from Omaha, Neb. to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and a line at mount Clemens, Mich., besides which he was interested in the construction of the Detroit, Toledo, and Monroe line. During this period he spent most of his vacations in camping in Florida and Wisconsin. In 1906 he and his father came to Oneida County, Wis., and settled permanently, purchasing 180 acres of land in Section 31 of Three Lakes Township. The father was in poor health at the time, but Oneida County's climate proved so beneficial to him that he survived for 11 years after locating here. Until 1916 Leo A. BISHOP, operated a boat livery here; in the latter year he and his wife established Camp Idyle Wyld, a select summer camp for girls which is open for eight weeks each year. Mr. and Mrs. BISHOP make their permanent home at the camp, both summer and winter, and their life work is the perfecting in every possible way of Idyle Wyld. Their private home, a large house, serves as the main lodge during the camping season, and the former home of the lake Mrs. A. W. BISHOP has recently been added to the equipment of the camp and now serves as a library and infirmary; besides these buildings there are many bungalow cottages, a large camp dining room and kitchen, and a large boat house, the second floor of the latter being used as a recreation hall where social and aesthetic dancing, games, and indoor sports of various kinds can be carried on. All the buildings are lighted by electricity. The location and surroundings of the camp are ideal; over 180 acres in extent, it lies on Town Line Lake in a region of virgin Norway and white pine forests; beautiful lawns reach back from the lake shore and the beach is sandy with a gradual slope to deep water, making bathing sale and delightful. Many row boats, and canoes, and two launches are maintained, and training in all water sports is offered, even to the modern and thrilling pastime of surf-board riding. Long camping trips are made, transportation being by means of a four-wheel drive Oshkosh motor truck. The athletic field is provided with splendid cement tennis courts and provides facilities for baseball, volley ball, and other athletic games, and there is a large outdoor arena for pageants and plays. Perhaps the most notable feature of the camp, however, is the high quality of its personnel; its counselors are all experts of wide reputation in the special lines to which they have been assigned at the camp, and a summer spent in their companionship and under their guidance is an educational and cultural advantage which cannot be overestimated, particularly to the young girl, whose intellect and character are yet in the formative stage. A camp paper, the "Idyle Wylder" is published quarterly and serves to bring about closer relationships between counselors and campers, as well as among the girls themselves. Mrs. BISHOP, who is in direct charge of all the activities, was Felicitas A. SALESKI previous to her marriage to Mr. BISHOP on Sept. 2, 1915. She was born at Meriden, Conn., and is a graduate of the New York Library School and of the University of Wisconsin. She was connected for some time with the public libraries of New York and St. Louis, and taught one year in the Three Lakes High School; she has had large experience in teaching and in business, and is a lady of great talent and accomplishment; among other artistic achievements she has written a number of plays and pageants, and her work at the head of Camp Idyle Wyld has been recognized in high circles. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity and Delta Delta Delta Sorority. Mr. BISHOP is fraternally affiliated with the Belle City Lodge No. 92 of the Masonic order at Racine, Wis., and with the Three Lakes camp of the Modern Woodmen of America.

Transcribed by Susan Swanson, from pages 267-268; History of Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties Wisconsin; Compiled by George O. Jones, Norman S. McVean and Others; 1924, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.

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