Did you know:
- William McClelland, founder of McClelland's Beach, and his wife, Margaret, emigrated to Iowa in 1876.
- Ulysses S. Grant signed their 180-acre deed under the Homestead Act.
- Native Americans lived in teepees on the shore of McClelland's Beach.
- William and Margaret discovered they owned land in the middle of Spirit Lake, and sold their team and wagon for shoreline acreage.
- McClelland's Beach was originally called the North Shore.
- After beach founder William died around 1900, son Joe and his wife, Maude, took over.
- The "beach" was developed in 1887 to include the two-story Sampson's Lodge, which boasted 15 bedrooms.
- Sampson's Lodge was torn down in 1911, and its lumber used for a home at McClellands Beach.
- In the early 1900's Maude McClelland opened a dining hall for fisherman frequenting her shore's prime fishing spots.
- A steamship named the Queen traveled between Spirit Lake and McClelland's Beach in the 1900's.
- Mildred Bartels, Joe and Maude's only child, inherited McClellands Beach when her father died in 1958.
- Mildred (McClelland) Bartels changed the name of the beach from North Shore to McClelland's Beach.
- What is now MiniWakan State Park was originally part of McClelland's Beach.
-- Sources: Big Spirit Lake: A Place In Iowa, by John W. Parsons, 1998; Dave Bartels, manager, McClelland's Beach
