A writer for National Geographic wrote this about Lake Le Homme Dieu. This is according to the passage about Lake Le Homme Dieu from the copy of “How The Lakes Were Names” at the Douglas County Historical Society in Alexandria near Noonan Park.
Here is more of what was written about Le Homme Dieu….
Lake Le Homme Dieu is one of the “most beautiful sheets of water in America,” a writer in the National Geopgraphic Magazine wrote some time ago. The north shore area of this lake, called Interlachen Park, was named for Interlochen, Switzerland, which means “between the lakes.” The naming of Lakes Carlos, and L’Homme Dieu have been hard nuts to crack. In Dr. Warren Upham’s book on Geographical Names in Minnesota, he says that G.A. Kortsch wrote him that they were named by Glendy King, an early homesteader in that area. King named Carlos and L’Homme Dieu for his two friends in West Point Academy. This story errs in that a Mr. Napoleon Beedom got a U.S. patent in 1871 to this land between the lakes. He sold to a Charles Kingston in 1875 which may account for the confusion of names.
A short while ago, Dr. William Anderson of Minneapolis, who owns property on Lake L’Homme Dieu, was interested enough to write the Academy to verify if all three men were there at the same time. It must have taken much searching, but the librarian answered that in 1886 there were two cadets by those names. BUT NO KING. There was a Charles Kingsley, however. In letters written by the Kinkeads, they speak often of their neighbor, Glendy King. We know from my early map that among the homesteaders listed on it, was the name of Glendy King whose homestead was on Lake Winona close to the homes of Will Kinkead and Mary A. Kinkead. This land was where the airport in Alexandria is now located, reaching down to Lake Winona. Will came in 1857, Mr. King must have come to Douglas County soon after. Oddly enough, the names of Lake Carlos and Lake L’Homme Dieu are on this old map. If Mr. King did name these lakes he must have done so before the 1860’s. The Alexandria Mr. King could hardly have been at the Academy in 1886, nor could he have been the homesteader on the lakes, neither dates nor names jibe.”
If you would like to read the remainder of what is shared about Lake Le Homme Dieu, I have uploaded a PDF and you can download it using the link provided below.
