The First Generation: Joe & Fay Biddle

Joseph Biddle first came to Loon Lake in 1919 to manage the boat livery near present day Morgan Park on the North side of Loon Lake. Morgan Park had a dance hall, store, Ferris wheel and excursion boat that were popular with Spokane visitors during the summer.  Joe worked for several years and saved enough to buy the property that is now Granite Point, and moved his wife Fay and four children there in 1921.  The youngest of those four children was (Delwyn) Glenn Biddle, only 3 months old at the time.

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In 1901, Granite Point was platted as a town - no actual Resort existed at the time. There was a homestead house (sadly lost), a large brown home built in 1907 belonging to Mr. Stone, a railroad executive (now Cottage 10),  a church, a number of tents, and a training camp for boxers. 

Granite Point also had a number of Ice Houses. Ice cutting first started in the late 1800s and was a prosperous industry in the era before refrigeration. The ice cut and hauled from Loon Lake was the primary supply used for passenger trains running between Chicago and Spokane, all the way through WWII. Granite Point's Store, the Cottages and the family homes all used ice for refrigeration until the mid-1940s, and one of those Ice Houses still stands today.

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Joe & Fay Biddle built the Store in the late 1920s, selling bread, milk and fishing supplies, and it soon became the gathering place on the lake for fisherman to come for their coffee, to swap fish tales, and for kids to buy their penny candy. Joe also built the first swim docks and bath house on the beach - important for the guests of the 1920s and 1930s to hang their suits and dresses and change into their woolen bathing suits for a day at the beach.

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Granite Point expanded, changed, and developed. Adjacent property was purchased and new Cottages were added. The family managed the Resort, the kids get and graduated high school in nearby Deer Park.  Young Glenn went off to WSU, majoring in Political Science and pre-law. In 1941, home from college for the day, he heard President Roosevelt declared war and volunteered with the Army Air Corp. Glenn became a B-17 bomber pilot in the European theater, serving 3 years, 9 months and 23 days.