This archive is dedicated to the shared memories of a special group of friends (G-J-K-C-F) whose lives intersected deeply in Assembly Park from the mid-1970s through the mid-1980s. Learn more about their history here.
This historic postcard shows early cottages in Assembly Park, Delavan, Wisconsin, at a time when dirt roads and simple seasonal homes defined life along the shores of Lake Delavan. The unpaved roads and closely spaced cottages reflect the park’s origins as a modest lakeside community rather than a formal resort.
Personal reflections on Assembly Park:
When I look at this postcard, I recognize the road, later paved during my years in Assembly Park. These were the roads my friends and I walked every day during long summer afternoons and on weekends. These were the roads we sped down on snowmobiles in winter, recklessly and without much thought. These were the roads where endless summer nights were spent talking, dreaming, plotting our next practical joke, or planning the next big football or baseball game in the park.
These were the roads that no one in the 1800s could have imagined would one day carry automobiles like my first car, a 1977 GMC Sprint with air shocks I could inflate, raising the back end like a scorpion ready to strike. It was the same GMC Sprint I drove recklessly through cornfields as farmers gave chase, and somehow, I always managed to escape.
These were also the roads where my first love and I held hands, walked arm in arm, and promised we would love each other forever. No matter what. Time stood still back then. Everything felt perfect, until it wasn’t.
And these were the roads that eventually carried me away, toward future chapters of my life out West. Roads that led me forward, shaped who I became, and ultimately made me who I am today.
Early Life in Assembly Park
In its earliest years, Assembly Park developed as a collection of small cottages built for summer living. Families arrived by rail or road, settling into a slower pace centered around Lake Delavan. Dirt roads connected cottages to the shoreline, docks, and shared gathering spaces, shaping a community where daily life unfolded outdoors and on foot.
Assembly Park and Lake Delavan
Lake Delavan played a central role in the layout and culture of Assembly Park. With cottages oriented toward the water, residents relied on the lake for recreation, transportation, and social life. Scenes like this postcard capture a time when the shoreline defined both the geography and rhythm of the park.
Part of the Assembly Park Postcard Archive
This postcard is part of a growing historical archive documenting Assembly Park in Delavan, Wisconsin. Together, these images preserve visual records of a lakeside community that has shaped generations of family memories along Lake Delavan.