Merrill B. Mills had many plans in the early 1890s for his land around Sylvan Lake. His Sylvan Lake Improvement Association developed lakeside subdivisions and a resort hotel. He hired architect
W. B. Stratton to design a resort hotel. The Sylvan Lake Inn was built in 1893 on this Point, including a dance pavilion, bowling alley, billiard parlor and riding stables. To make it easier to visit, in 1895 Mills built an electric trolley line along Garland Avenue linking the Inn to Pontiac. Festivities were followed by financial difficulties, and the Inn burned to the ground in 1903.

Many founding members toiled long days in the early automobile factories to gather $500 to buy this site on Sylvan Lake. The first meetings were held in an old shed used for a boat livery. In 1916 the Boat Club was built with rooms for dining, dancing and meetings. The club’s prospects dimmed when returning World War I veterans abandoned their boats for the new automobile craze. Eventually
automobiles and the trolley line brought new members to Sylvan Lake looking for relief from the crowded roads and city life.

Sylvan Lake is called “” The Prettiest Little City in Michigan.”” Its name means “wooded shady lake” for its unique natural beauty. A trip to Sylvan Lake gave people a new attitude on life. After the 1890s, trolleys and automobiles allowed people to visit Tower Beach on the Telegraph Road side of the lake for slide rides, picnics, fishing and swimming. In the 1940s marshy lakefront property on the south side of the lake was filled to create Ferndale Beach and Park for the enjoyment and growth of the community.