Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project: Interview with William and Eva Flagg

Titles: Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project: Interview with William and Eva Flagg (Supplied title)

Description: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: William Flagg, one of the few black resort owners in Minnesota, was born in 1920. He served 18 years as a traffic and stolen auto police officer in Chicago. In 1961, he and his first wife Virginia bought a resort on Lake Mary, in Emily, Minnesota. They renamed it Flagg's Lake Mary Resort. Virginia stayed in Minnesota and ran the resort during the summer. Bill took leaves of absence from the police department in the summer to come and help Virginia. In 1968, he quit the force and moved permanently to Minnesota. Bill built many of the cabins on the property and also a house for he and Virginia to live in. Virginia Flagg died in 1979. Four years later, Bill remarried. He and his second wife Eva, a former LPN from Minneapolis, ran the resort together. They wintered in California and spent the summers in a house on land that neighbors the resort. In 1994, the couple was planning to sell the resort. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: First interview: How Bill and his first wife first began coming to the resort, why they chose to purchase the resort, and managing the resort and continuing to work in Chicago. Improvements made to the resort, neater grounds, kitchen appliances, indoor plumbing, sinks, replacing partitions with walls, carpeting, electricity. How they attracted clients, advertising. Kozy Klub bar, gas pump, winter business, lodge. Gradual change from mostly black clientele to mostly white. Friendship with Gilmans. Area development, selling some property for private homes. Fishing as most favored activity. Second interview: How Eva and Bill met, Eva's experiences learning to run the resort, wintering in California, average day at the resort, activities shared with guests, cost of improvements versus returns, regular guests, cost of insurance, plans to sell. COMMENTS ON INTERVIEW: Eva Flagg particpates in the second interview. Video interviews include indoor and outdoor shots of the resort.

Dates

• 06/27/1994 (Creation)

Creation

• interviewee: Flagg, Eva
• interviewee: Flagg, William
• interviewer: Fogerty, James E.

Identifiers

• Library Call Number: OH 79
• Accession Number: AV1994.170

Holding Type: Oral History - Interview

Project

• Oral History - Project, MHS Collection, project: 'Minnesota Resort Industry Oral History Project' <OH 79>

Quantity: 1.5 hours sound cassette 61 pages transcript 2 hours videocassette

Format

• Content Category: sound recordings
• Content Category: moving images
• Content Category: text

Measurements

• 90 minutes length

Subjects

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