How The Village At Winona Came To Be

The subtitle of the centennial history of the Town of Winona Lake uses the words “Third Wave Rising.”
The term is borrowed from a book by futurist Alvin Toffler who, in 1980, observed that society was moving from the Industrial Revolution (second wave) into a third wave based on actionable knowledge as a primary resource.
Winona Lake is now experiencing its own third wave. The first wave, begun by the Beyer brothers in 1881, resulted in Spring Fountain Park, an enormously popular amusement park and Chautauqua center.
The second wave, initiated when Solomon Dickey purchased the entire town in 1894 and changed the name of the lake and the town to Winona Lake, was largely characterized by the rise of the Bible conference movement. Winona became known as the home of the world’s largest Bible conference, and it also housed the nation’s leading gospel music publisher, Rodeheaver Hall-Mack. Some summers 250,000 visitors came to Winona for the programs.
Over the years, the town’s structures and infrastructure suffered from aging. Many of the residences had been summer-only, and were not insulated or suitable for year-round occupancy. Some of the town’s oldest iconic buildings were crumbling, leaking, and in some cases uninhabited. The town was becoming, in a word, a slum.
The town’s rebirth came in the unlikely form of a Grace College business student with an expansive mindset and great dreams of the future. Brent Wilcoxson, as he matured, developed a taste for architecture, for history and for civic restoration. Through his business classes at Grace College and subsequent study for an M.B.A., Wilcoxson began to reflect on the architecture, amenities and programming he’d observed in a Chautauqua Center at Bay View, Mich. A dream began to emerge for something similar at Winona Lake.
There could be a string of shops and concessions along the canal. Two world-class restaurants would anchor each end, with a coffeeshop and neighborhood gathering place as part of the new village. A paved path could invite walkers, runners and bikers out into the woods. They would not only exercise, but they could also stretch their minds by studying sculptures and resting on benches erected along the way.
Brent and his young wife, Deb, began by purchasing and rehabbing historic properties, often living in them at the same time. SuCasa on Third Street. The Felsenheim on Fourth Street.
Meanwhile, the Winona Lake Historical Society started a project in 1989 to restore the Westminster Hotel on Ninth Street. The historic building dated from 1905, but now was empty, leaking, infested with racoons, and was slated to be demolished and turned into a parking lot.
The Historical Society envisioned saving the structure and initiated a fund drive to renovate it. The largest commitment the Society had received was a $20,000 pledge from Dane and Mary Louise Miller of Winona Lake. Miller was one of the founders of Biomet, an enormously successful orthopedic manufacturing firm.
Unfortunately, the fund drive was not successful. But, fortunately, Grace College & Seminary ultimately purchased and refurbished the property.
The Wilcoxsons continued to look for ways to arrest the decline, and in 1990 formed Winona Restoration Partners, LLC, with neighbors Lisa and Jim LeMasters and Retha and Jack Hicks. They purchased the Hatfield, a large, original single-family home that had been converted to five apartment units. They successfully renovated the structure back into a single-family home and, ultimately, found a buyer who continued the renovation and moved in with his family.
But Wilcoxson had no access to deep pockets. As a family with little children, the couple needed big money to make their dreams a reality. Wilcoxson connected with Dane Miller, the CEO of Biomet, and together they bought out the other partners in Winona Restoration in 1993.
In his biography of Dane Miller, Patrick Kavanaugh said, “He (Dane) and Mary Louise had cringed for years as they drove through the shacks and garbage along Park Avenue. Something needed to be done, and he had a man before him with a vision to get it done — if he had the help. At length, Dane declared that the community had been so good to them that yes, they would assist in changing Winona Lake forever.”
Kavanaugh went on to note that within a few months major projects were underway. Winona Restoration LLC bought all the properties on Terrace Drive and three on Sunday Lane. Wilcoxson’s dream of renovating the town began in earnest. The new partnership started by renovating a large property on Swiss Terrace called Interlochen.
A year later, in 1994, Miller bought the large tracts of wooded land south of Winona Lake known as the Chicago Boys Club property. The wooded land was perfect for the greenway trail Wilcoxson had envisioned.
The entire project was far too vast to detail here. But along Park Avenue and East Canal Street, properties were renovated and others were improved and sited on new foundations. New properties were built on vacant land that had been a gravel parking lot for Rodeheaver Auditorium and School of Music. Several buildings were rolled down the hill and positioned in the Village to form today’s Village at Winona shops. By July 4, 1999, 11 artisan shops had opened. The Boathouse restaurant opened the following year.
The grand old Winona Hotel, first built in 1888, was restored to its original grandeur and converted into 24 luxury condominiums. The entire post office block was re-made with the demolishing of the Eskimo Inn/Lamp building and all the little enterprises comprising that block. Two major restaurants were created — the Boathouse at the northern end of the canal and the Cerulean at the southern end.
Wilcoxson saw to it that the highest standards of historical reconstruction were observed. Original wood was used instead of composites or aluminum siding. Original paint colors were mandated for all reconstruction projects in town.
The Millers never stopped giving. By Dane Miller’s own estimate, the family’s financial contribution at the completion point 10 years into the project, was about $30 million. Since then, significant amounts of Miller money have continued to finance additional projects and restorations.
Dane Miller died in 2015 and Mary Louise Miller died in September 2025. But they had the foresight to create the legal structure that assures the ongoing development and maintenance of the Village at Winona for the future.
Spurred by these improvements, Winona residents have been renovating, building, and restructuring housing and amenities all over town at a furious rate. Property values are up. Winona is once again a tourist destination.
The Third Wave has risen remarkably and is still rising!