Why the Hideaway at Xanadu Island

This little island was named after the Romanticist Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem about the palace of ruler Kublai Kahn.  

A stately pleasure dome decree
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea

History

  1. 1917
  2. 1921
  3. 1925
  4. 1930
  5. 193?
  6. 1933
  7. 1959
  8. 1995
  9. 2007

  1. 1917

    James C. Jones bought the St. Louis Cardinals for $375,000, keeping them safe in their home city.

  2. 1921

    Jones and his wife, Clara, drove from St. Louis to Otter Tail County in a massive Marmon touring car, ($5,000, the equivalent of a new Rolls Royce today), with a fishing boat attached to the back. Wish we could have seen that.

  3. 1925

    A flapper-era socialite loses a walnut-size diamond in Bass Lake. It’s never been found. Seriously.

  4. 1930

    A summer camp kind of love.

    Clara passes away and James C. Jones, overcome with grief, departs his beloved pleasure dome, never to return. Pass the Kleenex.

  5. 193?

    Presidents like to fish, too.

    Woodrow Wilson slept here. We’re not sure when, but his name is in the register!

  6. 1933

    Prohibition ends.

    Booze, previously hidden in a half-basement beneath a trap door in the master bedroom of the main lodge, can now come above ground. Nice.

  7. 1959

    Paul and Emma Sellman purchase Xanadu and call it Sellman’s Resort.

  8. 1995

    Dedication & brunch.

    Bryan and Janet Lonski remodel the resort, shipping Douglas Fir wood from Oregon to match the wainscotting and serving up apple-pecan cake for breakfast.

  9. 2007

    Bubba Shivler, former rodeo promoter and barbeque purveyor strikes a deal over breakfast. He proposed to his sweetheart Margie five hours later. Talk about a big day.