Dick Waterson, left, Linda Waterson and Thom Combs stand in front of Combs’ historic Syracuse home. The Watersons are holding pictures of the horses owned by Roy and Polita Waterson when they owned Anchor Inn and Anchor Inn Riding Academy during the mid-1940’s. Photo by Blair Baumgartner

By Blair Baumgartner
InkFreeNews

SYRACUSE — Thom Combs’ home is a piece of history. The home was built in 1885 and is located near what was formerly known as The Spink-Wawasee Hotel on Lake Wawasee.

Combs recently ran into Dick Waterson, who was born on Christmas day in 1938 at Combs’ home. The two men started to talk and decided that Waterson should come over to discuss the history of the property over morning coffee. Waterson was joined by Linda, his wife of 63 years, and Ann Garceau, who serves on the board of the Syracuse Historical Society.

The group started to chat and pool together their local historical knowledge while sipping coffee. Waterson’s grandparents, John and Nellie Kunkalmann, owned the home which sat on a 40-acre plot of land back in the late 1920s.

At that time, The Spink-Wawasee Hotel was bustling with activity. Kunkalmann used to tell many stories about what it was like to live near the hotel during that time period when many out-of-town guests, including famous Chicago gangsters, frequented the area.

Kunkalmann had many interactions with out-of-town guests throughout the late 1920s and 1930s and even told a story of conversing with John Dillinger one evening in the front yard of his home.

The 40-acre property had an orchard that was dotted with peach, plum, pear, apple and cherry trees and red and black raspberries. Waterson said his grandfather had either a Ford Model A or Model T that pulled a sprayer used to spray the orchard.

They also mentioned finding copper wire in a tree on the property, which was used as an antenna for Crystal Radio sets back in the 1920s.

John and Nellie Kunkalmann passed their properties on to Waterson’s parents, Roy and Polita Waterson, and other family members before they passed away. John passed away in 1945 and Nellie in 1947.

In 1945, Roy and Polita Waterson decided to open an inn on the property. They named it Anchor Inn, which operated from 1945-1948. The home still has a guest house (formerly known as a garage house) to this very day, which current owner Combs potentially plans on converting into an Airbnb.

At that time, the inn had a coal shed to house the coal they burned to heat the home. The chimney was built with a curve and still has some curvature, which according to Combs, was thought to keep out witches back when the home was built in 1885. The basement has a separate entryway with steps and was thought to house two slot machines back in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Roy and Polita Waterson purchased 20 horses in Greensburg in 1945 and started Anchor Inn Riding Academy for guests staying at the inn and The Spink-Wawasee Hotel. There are still some horseshoes from that time period out in the garage.

Dick Waterson mentioned that when he was a young boy, famous Chicago American Gears (National Basketball League) and Minneapolis Lakers basketball star George Mikan would come to the lake in the summer and take speedboat rides from the hotel. He used to look forward to getting on the 6’10” Mikan’s shoulders when he visited.

He also has many stories about the late prominent Indianapolis trial lawyer Seth Ward and his wife, Betty, who built a cottage on Lake Wawasee when he was a kid. When Ward was planning on building his cottage during the spring of 1946, he pulled up in his Lincoln Continental convertible and said to Dick Waterson’s dad, “Roy, we’re going to build a cottage down here and I want you to do the plumbing.”

His wife pulled out a roll of $100 bills to pay Roy from a zipper pouch located in the Lincoln. Dick Waterson was so close to Ward that Ward eventually signed Waterson’s petition when he went into the Masonic Lodge.

Waterson said when Mrs. Spink passed, the hotel was purchased and converted into a Catholic seminary, Our Lady of the Lake Seminary. The hotel was such a big part of the lake that part of the lake died when it closed down.

Roy and Polita Waterson decided to close down Anchor Inn. The family ended up selling the property around 1948.

Waterson said his parents sold four cottages they owned that were situated directly on the lake for a total of $20,000 in 1949. The family then purchased a 220-acre farm.

Shown is the separate entryway to the basement of Thom Combs’ home. The home was built in 1885. At one point in time, there were thought to be two slot machines located to the right of these stairs during the late-1920’s and early 1930’s.