History of HL Combined

The History of Heritage Lake 1971-2021 Copyright © 2021 HLCS

History of Heritage Lake By Jean Mohler, appended by Rick Miller with contributions from a host of undocumented others The year now is 2021. Heritage Lake was created 50 years ago with the construction of the Dam in 1971 and plat maps for the various subdivisions submitted starting with Jefferson Valley in June of 1971 through May 1974 when Patriots Landing was platted. The vision of Heritage Lake and what has become our community and our home came from American Central, a private recreation and vacation homesite development company. About Jean Mohler Her story is chronicled in the early pages of this book. Jean proved to be remarkably detailed person who took it upon herself to capture our early history and did so with meticulous detail that has never been replicated since her chapter ended, around the year 2000. As I flipped through her pages while I was contemplating capturing her works for digital reproduction and for appending some additions, I was and am humbled, impressed and amazed by the effort she put in and the detail she captured. We all owe her at the very least our appreciation. As you flip through her many years and pages of history, her work tells a remarkable and interesting story of our beginning and development that has become a truly awesome community. About Rick Miller He came to Heritage Lake in 1998, just 2 years before Jean’s history of the lake ends. Though he is not a historian, he appreciates the value of the effort and possesses the skills to capture and share the history electronically. With Jean’s permission, her works make up most of the content you see here, and is presented as much as possible with her original format and content. Today, Rick is publisher and editor of the Heritage Highlights, taking over from Harold Paetow late in 2019. It is notable that Jean was responsible for some of the first newsletter publications for the lake. Much of the information from the year 2000 to present day, are from Harold and Rick’s work with the Heritage Lake Highlights. About this book It is not a novel, more so a collection of history and events describing the birth and evolution of our community. Many pages are of poor quality due in part to their age and that many are copies of copies captured over many years. We apologize in advance for the quality of some pages, but felt they were still worth including to properly share the activities, culture and events of the day they represent. All said it is a celebration of now 50 years for our Lake and community. It’s been difficult at times and survived many trials, but through the vision and initial investment of time, money and hard work by early owners, we have become one of the most desirable real estate markets in the state, but more importantly a close-knit community with the lake being the dominant theme we all share. We happen to be the 2nd largest community in Putnam county now, and at last look ranked number 25 in the top 200 list of small towns in Indiana. The story of Heritage Lake continues to be written. Grateful acknowledgement to all those who came before us, and wonderous anticipation for those who follow.