EAGLE LAKE — Christine Owen, director of the Prairie Edge Museum spoke to the Eagle Lake Noon Lions Club on July 20 about two prominent men in Eagle Lake History.
Captain William L. Donovant (1844-1902), photo on lower left, and William Thomas Eldridge (1862-1932) were movers and shakers in the formation of Eagle Lake.
In the late 1880s, both men partnered in lucrative entrepreneurial enterprises in the Eagle Lake area, co-owning extensive cotton, sugar, and rice plantations, building houses and hotels. The duo was also responsible for constructing and running the Cane Belt Railroad.
Business management misunderstandings developed into grudges which turned into jealousy which erupted in rage, as one partner shot and killed the other on a railroad coach on the train which they both owned.
To learn the dire details of this drama, you are invited to visit the Prairie Edge Museum and ask Owen what happened next.
