Anokijig's Western Lodge Part One

This is the first of a three-part story on Camp Anokijig's Western Lodge and was originally published in the August 1949 issue of Western Publishing's Westerner newsletter:

On Sunday, August 14, 1949, hundreds of people attended the official dedication of Western Lodge at Camp Anokijig, the 130-acre paradise of water and woodland operated by the Racine YMCA as a summer haven for boys and girls. Rising high on a hill overlooking Little Elkhart Lake near Plymouth, Wisconsin, this handsome log structure, reputed to be the largest of it's kind in the state of Wisconsin, is the gift to the Racine YMCA of Western Printing & Lithographing Company.

With a crew at one time of 23 lumberjacks from Northern Wisconsin and other contractors working on its construction, it was completed in 1948 and will serve as the main headquarters of the camp. The main room, with a large stone fireplace and overhead log trusses, without a single supporting beam for the ceiling, comprises the dining hall, which will seat 300 people for serving. The entire structure is 100 feet by 72 feet, high enough to be a two-story building, but designed as a one-story, high ceiling building. Its four block-house type corners give it a historic appearance in keeping with the architecture of early Wisconsin and the space is devoted to library and rainy-day recreation.

In the adjoining kitchen and pantries on the main floor are the most modern cooking and serving facilities, running water, sinks and even automatic dish-washing equipment. On the same floor are the camp offices, conference room and so-called kitchen-dining room, which has a fireplace of its own and all necessary facilities for a wintertime visit to camp. In the basement, which underlies one-fourth of the building are workshops, storage space for camp equipment, food storage space with walk-in type of refrigeration, laundry, shower bath, furnace and boiler room.

Prominent YMCA officials have proclaimed Western Lodge as the finest camp building of its kind and it is estimated that it will serve the interests of campers for a period of at least 100 years. That means it will help make camping enjoyable for several hundred thousand boys and girls of future generations.

Tomorrow- the people behind the donation and creation of Western Lodge

Camp Anokijig Gives Back to Racine

Camp Anokijig's relationship with the Racine community goes back to our very origin, as it was Uncle Adolph Gillund and Ray Vance from the Racine YMCA, who found the location and founded the camp we now call Anokijig. Over the years since, hundreds of thousands have traveled down the winding road that leads to Anokijig and many of our visitors started their journey in Racine.

In turn, Anokijig has supported the Racine community for many years, providing a wholesome environment for young people and families to learn about their natural environment (and themselves), as well as providing millions of dollars for programs in the Racine community. We continue to pursue our motto of serving and in the last two years, we distributed nearly $52,000 worth of camperships to the Racine community through both individuals and schools.

The actual value of camperships we offered to Racine is much higher, although not every school takes advantage of our campership offer. However, schools like S.C. Johnson elementary, Wind Point, Racine Christian, William Giese, Red Apple, Stephen Bull, Jerstad, Schulte, St. John Lutheran, Knapp, Mitchell, Prairie, St. Edward, 21st Century Prep, and North Park have all sent children to Anokijig with camperships. We are happy to welcome them and look forward to more of the same going forward.

Sign up for Summer Camp & Save Money!

The first day of summer camp is less than five months away and while that may seem like a long way off, it will be here before we know it. We understand many families like to plan their schedules early in the year, so we make every effort to open up our summer registration as soon as possible.

Even with months of time to prepare, we always seem to end up with kids on waiting lists, who miss out on our most-popular weeks, because they didn't sign up in time. We don't want your child to be left out of all the fun and excitement that comes with being an Anokijig camper, so we're doing our part to encourage parents to make sure their child doesn't get left out this summer.

Parents who sign their children up for summer camp at Anokijig before May 1, 2011 will receive a discounted rate of $540 per week. After May 1st, a week at Anokijig will cost our regular fee of $565. We know there is still plenty of time, but please don't wait too long because space is limited. Click on this link to sign your child up today!