| 1950’s
|
Grandview Lake was planned by
Q. G. Noblitt who bought a beautiful valley and surrounding
acreage in western Bartholomew County. Q. G. envisioned a
lake site and convinced Phillip Long and Denzel Truex to
form a development company. |
| 1953 |
The Grandview Development
Company was formed on July 14, 1953 and signed a land
contract mortgage on about 2500 acres owned by Mr. Noblitt.
James O. Freese, a Franklin civil engineer, designed the
dam, and was the first secretary of the development company. |
| 1960 |
A terrible rainstorm deluged
the area. That night only the close cooperation and
determination of the lot owners and builders protected the
uncompleted dam. Slow lot sales, partially due to the
incomplete dam, pushed the Grandview Development Company
into bankruptcy. |
| 1963 |
On July 2, 1963, Lawrence A.
Quick, Jr., Dr. Edwin Libbert and William G. Chambers,
shareholders operating under the name of Grandview Lake,
Inc, purchased the property at a sheriff’s sale. They had
borrowed money from College Life Insurance Company and
immediately transferred ownership of the property back to
College Life. |
| 1965 |
College Life marketed the
unsold lots, starting with the Third Addition in August 1965
through Grandview Estates. They created new additions to the
Town of Grandview as needed. A new launching ramp was
installed in 1967. |
| 1968 |
A group of lot owners
concerned about maintaining the purity of the lake,
contracted the design of a unique pressure sewer system. A
grant was provided by the Farm Home Administration (FMHA) to
demonstrate its feasibility. The system operated as a
research project for three years and became the first and
finest such system in the country. |
| 1970 |
College Life abandoned plans
for a connecting lake west of the current lake and focused
on the completion of the Grandview project. |
| 1973 |
Grandview Lake Inc. retained
ownership of the dam to permit needed construction and
maintenance. Robert Nussmeier, Charles Shepard and Lawrence
Quick, who were later shareholders, sold the dam for $1.00
to the Grandview Lot Owners Association.
|
| 1986 |
Installed inclinometers to
measure performance of the dam. |
| 1988 |
Morin Timber Company purchased
1100 acres surrounding the Lake’s ring road with the
intention of logging it and then developing residential
lots. The community supported the GLOA Board’s successful
efforts to purchase 643 of those acres, which largely form
the Lake’s watershed. Today that land, up to the ridge and
fifty feet beyond or deeper in some cases, constitutes the
Grandview Woods Preserve. Rules were established to keep it
in a natural state with low impact recreational use such as
the recently established seven mile hiking trail that
circles the Lake. |
| 1997 |
Installed piezometers to
measure water level at the bottom of the dam. |
| 2000 |
The GLOA office was built
between the launching ramp and the dam. |
| 2004 |
A self serve gas pump was
installed. 25,000 gallons of gas were sold the first year
and usage increases each year. |
