We stopped in a little antique shop in elkhorn and found a wisconsin hotel – summer rest hotel / tourist rooms and cabins directory for 1940.
Wandawega Lake Resort was listed at the time as a hotel renting a dozen rooms.
regulations were quite different back in 1939 (when this was published)
these were some of my favorite rules:
every rented tourist cabins and rooming house must have:
* a slop jar
* a chamber pot
* washstand and washbowl
other random laws:
* indecent pictures or words are forbiden in toilet rooms
* sprinkle floor with sawdust & water before sweeping to keep dust down
* spitting on premise is a $200 fine and 6 mos in county jail
* no girl may be employed as a bellhop
* allowance for lodging if furnished as part of payment of wages: $4.00 per week for boarding (room and meals)
* to rid the premises of ants, trace them to their nests and pour gasoline or kerosine on their hills
and…
In 1939– 1373 permits were issued to rooming houses.
wages were .16 cents an hour
here are some shots of the directory:
