ABOUT MOUNTAIN LAKES LAKE ARROWHEAD SECTION
According to the earliest known histories of our area, the land on which the Lake Arrowhead community sits was once part of the favored hunting grounds of the Lenni Lenape Indians. Settlers to the area described these Native Americans as congenial, hardworking people who were very accepting of the settlers. Unfortunately, the Lenape had completely vanished from the Denville area by 1750. They did, however, leave evidence of their culture behind in the form of small flint arrowheads. These small artifacts are what inspired the naming of our community.

Through the 1800s, this area had a number of owners. In 1925 the Arthur D. Crane Co. purchased 100 acres, including a small lake called Protectory Pond, from the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother of St. Francis Health Resort. Combining this land purchase with two smaller ones, the Crane Co. began development of a lake community which would lie within the borders of both Mountain Lakes and Denville.

In the fall of 1925 a dam was constructed and Protectory Pond was flooded using its own natural springs. This newly formed body of water was called Arrowhead Lake. Aided by their natural springs, two small swamps were later transformed into two additional lakes named the Bay of Deep Waters and Great Bay. These three bodies of water cover approximately 34 acres and lie, on average, 525 feet above sea level.

Arthur Crane’s plan was to build a summer community of privately owned houses. Many of these second homes were owned by people who spent most of the year living in Brooklyn and Jersey City. After the stock market crash of 1929, some of these people found it impossible to continue maintaining two residences. Soon the beautiful lakes and pleasant surroundings encouraged more and more people to make Lake Arrowhead their year round home.

It has been said in the 50’s that the private roads of of the Mountain Lakes section of Arrowhead were given over to maintenance by the Borough of Mountain Lakes. One of few neighborhoods served by bussing for the schools, residents of the Arrowhead Section are able to be serviced by regular transportation to and from school each day. For more information go to the Lake Arrowhead website.

THE TROUT DERBY:

The Trout Derby is an outgrowth of the Mountain Lakes Rod & Gun Club. After the Gun Club dissolved, a group of Lake Arrowhead men focused their energy into the creation of the Trout Derby. This group annually administers the Trout Derby for the Borough. The committee facilitates the operations which include: organizing the purchase and delivery of the fish, notifying the community, and managing publicity and security in conjunction with the police department; as well as overseeing the measurement of prize fish and the awarding of prizes.

REMEMBERING THE TROLLY IN ARROWHEAD:

The Trolly traveled down Boulevard and then the track crossed N. Pocono Rd., traversed what is now St Catherine of Siena church parking lot, continued across what is now Park Lakes Tennis Club’s parking lot, curved down over Great Bay (which wasn’t there at the time) in the Lake Arrowhead section of Denville, intersected Rt. 46 (which was called Bloomfield Ave. at the time) near Casa Bella Restaurant, paralleled the Rockaway River near where the Bonzai Steakhouse now stands, then curved down to terminate in Denville just west of where Rt. 46 crosses Main St. The trolley embankment is still clearly discernible along the path from St. Catherine’s parking lot to Park Lakes’ parking lot and where it crossed Great Bay.

At Denville, the Boulevard trolley connected with a much larger trolley system that eventually spanned nearly all of Morris County and even connected to Newark and Elizabeth through Convent Station, Madison, Chatham, Summit, Springfield, and Union.

HISTORY OF THE PARK LAKES TENNIS & PADDLE CLUB

During 1940, fourteen members of the Lake Arrowhead Tennis Club decided to expand its facilities and bought land from the Park Lakes Land Company. With financial and physical help from these fourteen “Founder Members”, plus many tennis enthusiasts and the Mountain Lakes Borough Crew working nights and weekends, four tennis courts were completed and put in play during the summer of 1941. there were times during the years of World War II that the membership was small and only two courts were maintained. The current shower and lavatory facilities were constructed in 1952. The platform tennis (paddle) courts were added in 1969. In 1996, a third paddle court was added. The club has come a long way since 1940, with a current membership of nearly 200 players.

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