A Brief History of VBYC

In 1948 and 1949, Van Buren County 4-H agent, Kermit Washburn rented the YMCA Camp Kilbourne for two weeks each summer and along with his wife Leona and 4-H leaders operated a program for rural youth. The camp which had been pretty much idle during World War II and after was very primitive and quite run down. Prior to the war it had a very busy and flourishing operation for nearly twenty years for Chicago young people.

It was during the two summers of 4-H use that Mr. Washburn formulated his idea of establishing a camp for Van Buren youth. Many hours of walking the grounds, pondering, and imagining resulted in Kermit excitedly calling together a core of county leaders involved with young people and planting his idea with them. They became the founding fathers -- Jim Thar, Paul Graham, Dean Richmond, and Art Drije.

This group then, in 1950, went to Aurora, Illinois and out of their own pockets put a down payment on the camp. The excited group returned home, organized the Van Buren Youth Camp, and went about the task of raising $18,000 to buy the camp. 4-H, scout, civic, Farm Bureau, extension, and Grange clubs held fund raisers all over the county in the form of bake sales, car washes, paper and old iron drives, tag days, benefit dinners, etc. to raise funds. Individuals and businesses chipped in and before long the money was raised. This was during the Korean War and the country was still recovering from W.W. II.

Now that camp was secure those same groups began the endless tasks of cleaning, patching, repairing and building necessary to make the camp usable. The community spirit and pride in having their own camp shined as improvements continued to be made in everything from patching roofs to Jim Elliott moving his saw mill in and sawing the lumber on the spot for a new bath house. This spirit continues today.

How to operate a camp? No one had ever run an organized camping program before. What kind of program do you offer? What about staff? What about county and state regulations? What about public relations, and how does one get campers? What about fees and costs?

As the board worked through these questions, Leona Washburn and "Mac" McAllistar took turns directing the first few years. Both had teaching backgrounds and Leona also had been the county recreation director. The program was plain and simple: waterfront, nature, evening recreation, sports, and crafts. As the camp grew so did the program. Staff was very limited -- two cooks, waterfront, director, and volunteers. That too evolved. Fees for a week were anywhere from $8 - $12.00. That has also grown but still reflects only the cost of operation with capitol improvement coming from donations.

From these humble but visionary beginnings the camp has grown, matured, and

flourished. It has had financial ups and downs and leadership trials and tribulations, but has stayed true to its roots and has never lost the support of its campers and the public it has served. It is truly a one of a kind institution and has a camp spirit that is unique only to VBYC and those who have been touched by the camp.

To publish the total history including all of the people and events that have influenced the life of the institution would be a monumental writing and research task, thus the following is but a smattering of recollections that readers may relate to.

The Lodge is an original building first built as a facility for a South Haven Hunting Club in the teens. It has undergone three renovations by VBYC over the years. The structure as initially inherited by VBYC did not include the current kitchen, office or "bear's den" (tornado shelter). It was a huge barn of a building with a screened in porch on the north and west sides, and an open porch on the east side off the kitchen. The kitchen was an open ceiling arrangement in what is now the SE corner of the dining hall. The whole roof was supported by four 6-inch diameter poles (trees) that went from the floor to the rafters in the dining hall. Since there was no recreation area, dancing was done in the lodge and those poles made it very interesting!

Both fireplaces were there and Cleo the Moose is still hanging above the north one exactly where he has always been.

The Kitchen was most interesting since it was open to the rafters, had open stud walls and actually ran east to west instead of north to south. Dishwashing was done in sinks and wash tubs over open gas burners, and drying took place under netting draped over the dishes. Hot water came from a coal burning hot water heater, and refrigeration consisted of a huge converted wooden ice box.

Food preparation took place on three masonite covered tables and bread was kept in a large screened pie safe which is still in use. Water pressure came from an open water tank in the ceiling and drained to the sink below. One large stove sufficed and toast was made in the ovens. Many of the utensils were government surplus.

A side porch facing what is now the recreation area served as a vegetable preparation area with some additional refrigeration units added. Food storage was in the present "Monkey Den" which is a 10' x 10' Michigan cellar and still is there today.

Pearl Fisk, the head cook, was a short but mighty woman who was an excellent cook and a stickler for cleanliness. Kitchen staff had to work around open stud walls, wipe down the rafters, and keep the floor and tables spotless.

The Bathhouse originally consisted of two facilities. The boys enjoyed a two-seater outhouse located on the north drive behind cabin 13. They washed in wash pans on a bench in a tent placed in "the bowl". The girls had it much better with an eight-seater outhouse located just to the north of the present bathhouse and a wash house consisting of a twelve foot metal trough with water spigots above it every two feet, and located on the present bathhouse site.

In 1952 Jim Elliott moved in his portable saw mill and volunteers helped saw and erect a new bathhouse. Masonry work was done by Mr. Goens of Lawrence. Since that time the bathhouse has been completely renovated again.

The Main Parking Lot was in its present location but with many more trees. It had a covered gazebo in the center with a drinking fountain. The west edge had three large totem poles at the entrance to the path to cabin row.

The First Aid Building was located on the north side of the parking lot exactly where the "Museum" is today. It consisted of two 8'x 8'rooms and a small open deck. It was eventually moved to the north drive and named cabin 0 and was used for overflow.

The Waterfront consisted of the flag pole which was in the same spot as the present pole. It had a large circle of stones around it and had a base of laid up field stone. The pier was simply a wooden pier with wooden posts driven into the bottom of the lake. There was a diving raft with a high wooden tower for diving.

Canoes consisted of three -- wooden canoes. The present program started in 1959. Row boats included five heavy yellow steel boats most of which eventually sank. A very large wooden sail boat was also part of the inventory but was never used.

The present day sandy bottom was created by Al Zimmer who brought a steam shovel in and threw sand in the water and on the ice. He also raised the level of the bowl to its present height so that it was usable. There had been talk of turning it into a swimming and boating area since it was below lake level originally.

Hilltop or what is now the "Craft House" was a huge two-story structure which housed male staff upstairs in two rooms and had a bathroom downstairs. The bulk of the downstairs was used as a crafthouse and had a lakeside screened in porch. The YMCA had used this as an infirmary complete with fold down seats on the walls. this structure wasn't originally part of the YMCA camp and had been privately owned. "Hilltop" eventually leaned too much to the east to be considered safe and the staff pulled it down and built the present crafthouse on its foundation.

The present "swamp" (male staff) was built that same year.

Cabin Row has always been in its present location except all twelve cabins faced the lake and were only a few feet apart. Cabins had no windows and were screened in with wooden screen doors. The cabins had two huge and heavy wooden bunk bed frames on each side with eight steel cot springs that fit in them. The roofs were very low and the upper bunk campers were always hitting their heads on the rafters. Privacy was minimal with only loose fitting roll down canvas shades. In the'80s these 1920s vintage cabins were replaced with new cabins prefabed at the Van Buren Vocational Tech center and assembled primarily by the board.

The Valley which is approximately in the same location as the original and consisted of two 8'x 12'cabins and an outhouse. They were eventually moved together with a bathroom added between them, and a screened in porch on the north side. In the '60s the staff added a large room on the back when the female staff occupied it instead of the cooks. That addition came from one of four cabins on the south edge of the "upper 20" and was moved whole by the staff and attached to the "valley".

The Honeymoon was also a cabin from the "upper 20" and was disassembled and moved and built by the staff during that same time (1965). It served as staff quarters and camp office and is still in use.

First Aid was built in the '60s to replace the old first aid building and the nurse's cabin which was on the site of the present nature building. It was totally constructed of used materials and was the first winterized building.

Nature Hut The original building on that site served many roles including directors cabin, male staff, female staff, nurse quarters, and finally nature building until it was replaced by the present nature building. It had two rooms with a half bath and a roofed porch on the lake side.

Old Cabin 14, which was located where 14 is today, was an odd shaped cabin with a screened porch, a sink, and wooden shutter windows on the bowl side. It was used for female staff, waterfront director, and later, campers. Many campers liked it because it was tighter than the other cabins.

The Pioneer Shed was the most mobile building of all. Its last location was south of the Indian mound and it was used to store pioneer camping equipment. Prior to that it had been located where cabin 1 is and was used as a shop, sports shed, and later as a crafthouse. Prior to that it was located on the west side of the "Indian mound" facing the parking lot and was the original craft house. It was unique in that both sides opened up for light and air.

The original Eagles Roost is now gone but was located between the bathhouse and male staff quarters. It was a three room building with a bath and was given to us by a neighbor to the south. Four fork lifts moved it down the road with Rich Maxam sitting on the roof lifting electrical wires. It was used as married staff housing.

Other locations of interest include the thought area, originally "vesper area", which was located between the present "valley" and the waterfront. The trail to the "thought area" has always been there.

The shop has moved several times also. Originally it was on what 's now the NE corner of the recreation area and consisted of a two bay garage and a small work room. The garage was torn down and the workroom became a sports shed eventually, by way of being moved to the "rifle range" for awhile and then back.

The staff during the'60s built a new shop on the site of the original. It too had been a cabin on the "upper 20". It was replaced during the late'80s by the present shop which is on the site of the original "archery range".

The present property between the camp and Whiskey Creek was purchased by the camp and included two cabins and a garage. In the'60s it was sold except for the north cabin and garage and drive. That cabin served as directors cabin until replaced and sold in the late'80s by the present structure. The south cabin was used by female staff prior to the "valley" being built.

The Upper 20 was as it is except that the rifle range was a tennis court and only turned into a range in 1960. The family camping area had a hand pump and a pavilion. The pines were only three feet tall. The whole field was overgrown with thornapples and was cleared in time for the county fair to have a season there in the '5Os.

The cottages on the south edge of the 20 were reached by a separate drive which is still visible and went clear to the lake. There used to be a flowing spring on the left of the drive as you enter the large field. "Pioneer" camping was located in different sites throughout the "upper 20".

The Upper 30 were acquired in the 1980s and provide a wonderful nature area.

Bear's Den or "tornado shelter" came about as a result of a camper's petition to the board in 1957. During Leadership Camp a tornado passed close by and there was no cover for campers. It was basically constructed under the original screened porch.

The Recreation Area was an idea that came from camper Tom Hood who got tired of dancing around poles in the lodge. For many years it was open with a block wall around it but was covered in the'60s.

The Boathouse, was built by Paw Paw ISC campers during their two weeks at camp in the early'70s. It was designed and constructed by campers, teachers, and staff. Originally there was to be a float-in channel in the middle which the staff spent many hours digging only to fill it in after further thought. The boathouse was also used as a crafthouse while the new "hilltop" was being built.

Leadership Camp which started in 1952 was an extension of the need to offer challenges for older campers and demonstrate the camp's faith in the ability of young people with the appropriate training and guidance.

From the leadership camp came the Van Buren Folk Dancers who were simply some campers asked to do something on WKZO "Feminine Fancies" television program to promote camp. They decided to square dance and had such a good time they stayed together and inaugurated a vibrant force in the camp until the mid '80s. Their sole purpose was to promote camp and have fun. Under the direction of Leona Washburn and later Elaine Washburn they achieved national and international recognition.

The Van Buren German Band was also an outgrowth of Leadership Camp and originally started as an act to give the dancers a chance to catch their breath during performances. They performed for-nearly ten years with several members. Their comedy and music put them in great demand: Phil Clark, clarinet; Lou Clark, bass; Tim Washburn, trombone; John Roosevelt and Joe Plumchuk, trumpet; Rich Maxam and Ron Sampsell, drum; Dave Moon, director.

VBYLO, Van Buren Youth Leadership Organization was started by Art Drije as an outgrowth of Leadership Camp. Its purpose was to promote camp and practice leadership skills year round. VBYLO was started in the mid'50s and lasted around ten years being a very visible representation of camp.

Many anecdotes exist involving personal experiences and exploits and memories, but for this publications purposes are best left to those reminiscences that take place when past campers, staff, folk dancers, and supporters gather.