Kenosee Lake began as a summer resort town. The lake itself was called Fish Lake until 1932. In the 1890s, Fred Christopher and his sons, German immigrants homesteading east of the lake, joined with Harold and Percy Fripp, who owned the land where the village now sits, to cut a trail through the bush to Cannington Manor. Known as Christopher Trail, it is still the main gravel road between the two places. The first true road to the lake was built in 1905. The Christophers opened the Saint Rest Resort in 1897 and bought the land in 1899. Dance halls, stores and cabins soon appeared along the beaches, and Tumble Inn, built by the family in 1909, is the oldest surviving dance hall. Christopher Bay carries the family's name.
In 1913 Hank Holquist bought most of Fred Christopher's land and built a hotel, dance hall and store for his We-non-cha Summer Resort. He competed with Clarke's Resort, started by Ray Clarke in 1907. By the late 1920s there were two hotels and 60 cottages, and in 1933 Holquist built Kenosee Gardens, which drew big names of the Big Band era. After Clarke's hotel burned in 1942, Holquist sold to Hugh Clarke, who made the combined resort the region's dominant one.
Land was surveyed into 200 lots by 1959, and they sold quickly. In 1978 the community separated from the RM of Wawken and named itself We-non-cha, then became the Village of Kenosee Lake in 1981 and gained official village status in 1987. Surrounded by Moose Mountain Provincial Park, it provides many of the park's services, and visitors come for camping, golf, fishing, boating and swimming. The Kenosee Cubs baseball team plays just west of the village.
Written from Wikipedia’s article “Kenosee Lake, Saskatchewan” (CC BY-SA 4.0), and shared under the same licence.