What pioneering family helped develop Beadle Lake into a recreational and residential area?
The Charles and Fred Kistler Family. Charles and Fred Kistler at one time owned practically all the frontage on the west side of Beadle Lake, according to newspaper stories of the late 1890s. The brothers purchased the property from their father, Jacob Kistler. Charles Kistler built and operated the general store for nearly 60 years, as well as a gristmill, before his death in 1944. Kistler and his wife, Amanda Lapham Kistler, lived in an apartment in the store building, which also served for six years as the official Beadle post office. The second floor had several hotel rooms, as well as a small dance hall and bandstand. Kistler added a fenced-in picnic area and boat rentals and stocked the lake with fish. He opened “Kistler’s Resort at Beadle Lake,” which became a popular recreation and fishing spot for church and civic groups and families and couples, many of whom journeyed by train to Battle Creek. As early as 1889, the St. Louis, Sturgis and Battle Creek Railway linked small comm
