[1] Leo F. Hale began a logging and shipping operation in this area in the early 1890s.

[2] In 1893, Hale, along with William and Mary Vincent, platted out the village of Watervale on the south shore of Lower Herring Lake.

The village also contained a meat market, general store, and post office.

As the logging boom waned, Hale went bankrupt, and by 1900 had lost most of Watervale; it was eventually nearly abandoned.

[2] In 1917, Dr. Oscar H. Kraft of Chicago purchased the town and adjacent land to use as a resort for his family.