Generations treasure their time at Edinboro Lake (VIDEO)

Lakeside in Edinboro was once a great place. A great getaway for a family on a budget. Unfortunately, money was to be made on college student rentals and when the college students come in, the families leave. I remember an active Canoe Club, a bait shop, and boat rentals with gas "on the lake".

Maybe with some assistance from the Lakeside Association, Lakeside could be reborn as a family rental, summer vacation, and retirement neighborhood.

ralph, I am in agreement. I spent many happy years hanging out at the canoe club, chasing the pittsburgh girls who were up on vacation, swimming and fishing in the lake.

If the college builds enough of those fancy dorms, lakeside will revert to a vacation spot.
Demand for cottages will return to sane levels, and we will be better off for it.

Hi Frank and Lakerman1, Our days of Lakeside with the Canoe Club, weekly vacationers, and lots of boat rentals are gone. With a law prohibiting new permits for rentals to students, we'll see the weekly rentals end, too. We now have a residental subdivision in what was once a great getaway place for a family on a budget. You and I are the lucky ones who experienced Lakeside when it was a resort community and can enjoy it in our retirement years. Don't look for the old days to return. Lakeside will never revert to a vacation spot. I am sad to see the change.

I'm planning to write the history of Lakeside for Edinboro's historical society. If anyone has information to share about the cottages or activities on Lakeside, please contact me. Thanks!

lakesidevago, any history of lakeside would be incomplete without writing about Lars Lundquist, the fonzie of the canoe club. Lars was a pittsburgh transplant who lived with his grandparents in the bailey lakes subdivison.(Edwin Bailey was a somewhat incompetent math teacher at Edinboro HS, and was going to make his fortune with that subdivision. He hired Roy Carlson to build the ponds, each of which was to have a different species of fish. Bailey failed to consider that people sitting on a lake would do their fishing on the lake, rather than in a pond. Bailey went bankrupt, deeply in debt to one Roy Carlson, I believe, who extracted peat from the head of the lake on bailey's property. Such excavating is now forbidden by environmental laws, but it was the 1950s when carlson did that.)
But I digress. Lundquist was one of a kind, with a 1939 ford coupe hotrod, then replaced by a 1950 ford convertible. He always had money from some unknown source - perhaps his mother, who he never mentioned. But he predated fonzie by 20 plus years.
Lundquist died about a decade ago. He was bright, but a non-achiever in life. Wound up as a shoe salesman, I heard.

edinboro didn't used to be depository for federally funded deadbeat students...students used to carry their own weight. Do you see waht free money, liberals, and crackpots can do to a nice family community. College towns have whole different identity than they did 40 years ago.

Edinboro College, in the 1950s, had about 400 students. They fit in pretty well with the community. Now they dominate the community. The only plus about them living in lakeside is that most of them do not own boats, so the lake is available for fishing more than it was in the 1950s, with all those pittsburghers zipping around the lake.

I'm tired of townspeople damning all the college students. I realize it's nice to think of how things used to be, but look at Conneaut Lake - they're struggling too, and it's not because of college kids.

Granted, there are a few exceptions, and some college students do cause some problems. But you can't stereotype an age group. That, my friends, is ageism.

My husband and I rented our cottage to college students for over thirty years and have no complaints. We appreciate the fact that students were able to help us pay our expenses, so that we could have a cottage for our family for the summer. The students were great! I grew up with college students renting bedrooms in our home and sharing a bathroom with us. I've heard very little criticism of college students over the years, so I don't know what townspeople you're hearing.

lakesidevago, please do not take my comments as criticism of college students. I was a professor most of my professional life, and had nothing against them. They paid my salary.

I was talking about the character of lakeside, and how the college students changed things there. Back in the 1950s, lakeside was an almost abandoned ghost town. We learned how to drive on slippery roads by driving on lakeside drive, intitiating skids towards the water, and pulling out of the skids.(we called that 'doing wingdings') it was stupid but simultaneously, it was fun.

Lakerman, your previous comment said college students now dominate the community, which carries a pretty negative connotation with it. I understand that it's fun to reminisce about how things used to be, everybody does it.

But after reading comments on here and hearing how the town's own officials speak of college students, it's clear that a group of citizens absolutely hate the students. It's incredibly apparent in the new zoning ordinance; homes in Edinboro can't be rented out to students unless they happened to already be renting when the ordinance was passed. People say it is a preventative measure to assure income tax revenues for the town, since most college students don't have a very large income. While this is true, the ordinance goes way too far, and could be limited to a certain percentage per rental year or something. Making it so totalitarian gives the impression that some people just don't want college students around.

I'm just fed up with the dissenting view of students from townspeople. Didn't mean to go on a rant like that :)

I'm not happy at all with the ordinance against renting to college students. If students can't rent during the year, then cottages will not be available for weekly summer rentals. This marks the end of Lakeside as a resort. My grandchildren will enjoy the lake, but they will never know the fun of having a whole new crop of people pulling in on Saturdays, filling Lakeside with the laughter and fun that comes from nice families on vacation.

Who here would like to make a difference and run for office? It seems like the decisions are being made with little resistance? I may be wrong, but the only solution is to take your stand. Yes, things will never be the same, but they can regain their character and still cater to the new community of college students. But just saying no more college kids!? Sounds like they are skirting their authority with that one. I'm no attorney and I don't live in Edinboro, however the extended family does and My wife and I would love to buy a cottage and use it as a summer retreat, but like most in this day and economy, we can't unless we are able to offset expenses of the 2nd mortgage.
If there are any of you who study law out there, I'd be curious to know if they can legaly choose a group and say NO, sounds dicriminatory. Heck, Obama is now president, anything can happen!

As I understand it, Keywester, you can buy and rent to students during the year if you buy a cottage that has an active rental permit at the time and has students living in it. You can not buy a cottage that has been occupied by a family and rent that to students unless there are no student rental within twenty properties. I can't see that this law can stand. As for running for office, I would if I were a resident.

Having been on the lake since 1960 and owner of a piece of lakeside, the once proud lakeside community that has changed, is part of it history. What people wanted 50 years ago, especially the kids are not the same today. For you that can remember there were hundreds of boats on the lake and three boat rental places; Riverside on the outlet, Conneauttee Marine on lake side, and Indian Head landing on rt. 99. They were all thriving businesses and rented to the many people who came mainly from Pittsburgh for their annual vacation. You could rent a lake front cottage, go the the candy store, get you fishing worms and enjoy a safe and fun time. Even when the Jukebox was open and the Canoe Club, with it ski clubs members were in operation, summer was fun. We now have cottages that have been upgraded to homes, some that have become so big, that the space that once was part of the uniqueness of the community is no longer a part of it. College kids, have rented places for as long as I can remember. It was a source of income for many of the cottage owners over the years. Maybe that is why some of the cottages are still owner by the original families. Edinboro will always be a great place for those who still can enjoy the little things in life, like taking the grandkids fishing, watching the sun rise over Green Point, or the sunset from the old town beach. For all that have posted, that for the memories, again.

I see Indian Head was sold. I'm told they are going to put a restaurant over towards the south side of the property. Got anymore info on it?

The guy brought back the rental business. He bought some pontoon boats, canoes, kayaks, and paddle boats.

The campground will stay put.

That's all I know.

Frank, My husband and I just purchased a cottage lakeside with 3 bedrooms, each with a queen bed. We rent it out SOMETIMES for a week in the summer. It is at 213 Hickory St. It rents for $550 a week plus $100 cleaning fee, unless you do it yourself. Let us know if you're interested. Thanks, Ed and Bea: beakuchta@verizon.net

Ralph wrote:

Lakeside in Edinboro was once a great place. A great getaway for a family on a budget. Unfortunately, money was to be made on college student rentals and when the college students come in, the families leave. I remember an active Canoe Club, a bait shop, and boat rentals with gas "on the lake".
Maybe with some assistance from the Lakeside Association, Lakeside could be reborn as a family rental, summer vacation, and retirement neighborhood.

lakesidevago wrote:

Hi Frank and Lakerman1, Our days of Lakeside with the Canoe Club, weekly vacationers, and lots of boat rentals are gone. With a law prohibiting new permits for rentals to students, we'll see the weekly rentals end, too. We now have a residental subdivision in what was once a great getaway place for a family on a budget. You and I are the lucky ones who experienced Lakeside when it was a resort community and can enjoy it in our retirement years. Don't look for the old days to return. Lakeside will never revert to a vacation spot. I am sad to see the change.

they have
check out edinborolakeresort.com

they have
check out edinborolakeresort.com