A colorful part of early Clear Lake, Lon Green did much to develop the area’s natural tourism potential. His love of boats brought him to the shores of the lake where he would sail until he reached his 90s. The following article appeared in the local newspaper upon the occasion of his 90th birthday:

Sailing life has agreed with Mr. Green for he does not look to be within fifteen years of his age, and he is extremely active and full of buoyancy. His stature is tall and straight, his eye sight keen, and with the exception of a slight deafness, he is every inch as youthful as the average man at sixty years of age. He has an abundance of beautiful white hair and a grey beard makes him very distinctive. His eyes are brown and unfaded. His mind is bright, and his memory is remarkable for one of his years. He still clings to the mariner’s cap with its broad visor.

He has lived at Clear Lake since 1874 when he came here from a farm near Buffalo Grove, Buchanan County, Iowa, so that his daughters might be educated in a school here and to satisfy a craving for his form of life on the water.

His mariner’s life begins way back in 1847 when he was a lad of thirteen years. He sailed Lake Erie out of Fairport, Ohio, on the schooner “Atlanta” of which his father, D.H. Green, was captain. He traveled all over the Great Lakes on sail boats until the year 1863 when he left the water and came to Iowa.

“When I came here in 1874, John Phillips, Sr., had a sail boat, the only one at that time on the lake. He had built it himself and it was a pretty good boat. However, I brought the first sail boat to Clear Lake from Michigan City, Indiana.”

“My brother Delows and I built a sail boat and scow. The scow we named ‘The Bumper’ and I forget the name of the sail boat. We had lots of fun with those boats, and they were good, too! We used to take fishing parties out around the lake in them. We had another boat we called ‘The Tramp,’ which carried twenty-five passengers.

“Because of a dispute with a rival party, we could not land on the island, and we had to clear the land and build a dock so that we could land across the lake. The landing place was known as Steven’s Point, named after Oscar Stevens who owned the property. It is now known as Bayside. We carried the lumber across the lake for John Ryan to build a cottage. This cottage was the first one to be built on that Point. We also moved a ten-pin alley over so that we could have a good landing place for our trade.”