Frank Melgeorge (Josef Franz Mieldzioc in Polish) began carving Melgeorge's Resort out of 400 acres of logged-off wilderness in the Elephant-Black Duck lakes area in the mid-1930's. The Melgeorge story actually began in 1907 when Frank's father Stanistan emigrated from Poland, leaving his family behind. Stanistan worked in the iron mines until he could bring his family to Minnesota. Frank arrived with his mother and siblings in 1913 when he was 15 years old. He became a naturalized citizen in 1933.
The first cabins were built in the general area where the cabins are now located. In the early years the cabins had no water or electricity and were not insulated, yet Frank's family lived in one of them year around for several years after moving to Elephant Lake from Chisholm. Frank's wife Mary, who had emigrated from Czechoslovakia at the age of 4, said that one could tell how severe a winter was by the amount of frost on the inside of the cabin door. Water had to be carried to the cabins from the single well, iceboxes were used for refrigeration and kerosene lamps or candles were used for illumination.
Ice for refrigeration was harvested from the lake in 16" x 20" blocks and stored buried in sawdust in an icehouse which was located about where the boat ramp enters the lake.
The work seemed never ending. During the 1940's, Frank built a combination house and store, purchased a gasoline generator for supplying electricity, installed a single cold water line to the cabins, and furnished the cabins with gas refrigerators. Throughout the 1950's, the generator was only switched on from sundown to about 11PM. Because the road from Highway 53 had been an old railbed, railroad ties would surface from time to time and Frank would pull them out to prevent damage to customer's cars.
Ted Melgeorge had grown up a resorter and had worked with his father in the early 1960's to continue modernizing the cabins, among other things, by installing hot water heaters and bathrooms. Ted and his wife Sharon, took over management of the resort after Frank and Mary. Ted and Sharon replaced or enlarged some of the older cabins soon after taking charge and added around the clock electricity when REA brought the high line into the area in 1968. Soon, Ted could be found splitting cedar shingles to roof his dream project. "The Cedar Inn" an eight room lodge with bar and restaurant was to be built just over the hill from the cabins where on a Virginia and Rainy Lake Company's logging camp once was. Cedar Inn opened in the Spring of 1985.
Ted and Sharon, looking forward to retirement in 2005, passed the lodge on to their daughter Carla and her husband Steve Koch and formed a Common Interest Community from the cabin sites. The cabins were offered for sale first to long time guests of Melgeorge's Resort with the understanding that the lodge and their rentals would be managed by Steve and Carla. Carla, like her father, had grown up a Minnesota resorter and Steve is a builder/craftsman. The new organization was accompanied by a minor name change to Melgeorge's Elephant Lake Lodge and Resort. The new cabin owners have either completely rebuilt or uniquely redecorated their units as members of Melgeorge's extended family. Truly, we believe that beginning with the 2007 season, we are offering a Melgeorge's Resort to our customers that is NEW in nearly all respects.
