Name/Title
Big Pavilion from riverEntry/Object ID
2022.21.381Description
Simmons negative number 381
View of Big Pavilion and Hotel Saugatuck form across river
Index text:
381 0/3 Saugatuck - Pavilion, Lodging Hotel Saugatuck, Pavilion from west shore
From photographic negatives created by William R. Simmons, editor of the Commercial Record newspaper between 1941 and 1961.
More information may be in the 2001 SDHS book "Off the Record"Photograph Details
Subject Person or Organization
220 Water/Coral Gables/Hotel Saugatuck/Columbia Hotel/Leiendecker's Inn, Big Pavilion 1909-1960Collection
William (Bill) Simmons, 1909 Big Pavilion -1960Cataloged By
Winthers, SallyRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Simmons, William "Bill" R. 1890/1-1966Interpretative Labels
Label
William R. "Bill" Simmons
1891 - 1966
The Big Pavilion Lake Kalamazoo
1955 | enlarged image of original photo
Notes: William Roscoe "Bill" Simmons, born in Kansas, had an isatiable thirst for photographing nature. When he returned from World War I, Simmons first worked in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Chicago Evening Post and, beginning in 1932, in the Chicago office of Time-Life, Inc.
In the 1940s, Simmons moved to Saugatuck, Michigan to pursue his hobby of photography as a vocation. In his studio on Butler Street, he did portraits by appointment, developed film for tourists and matted and framed scenic photographs of the area. He also created postcards. At different times, Bill was also an editor for the Commercial Record, Saugatuck's local newspaper. Bill Simmons died in Douglas on February 11, 1966, at the age of 75. (adapted from the publication, Off The Record by James Schmeichen with Jack Sheridan and Kit Lane.
This image shows a typical summer day on the water side of the Big Pavilion.
Collection: Saugatuck Douglas History CenterCreate Date
March 13, 2022Update Date
October 21, 2025