First Class Service: How Dolhun Airfield Got Its Start

Charles Sanders was a carpenter who relocated to Lake Tomahawk in 1888 to help construct the station building for the Milwaukee Line. Sanders paid $125 dollars for a plot of land and became proprietor of the Two Jacks Resort, which was the second resort property developed in the Lake Tomahawk area. The Two Jack’s Resort had six cottages and served guests for nearly sixty years. By 1945, however, the resort was considered primitive, run down, and well past its prime. This is when Theodore Dolhun entered the picture. Dolhun was a Ukrainian immigrant who in 1939 founded the Wisconsin Steel Treating and Blasting Company in Milwaukee. Dolhun started small, but wartime production helped build his steel company into a prosperous enterprise. By the time World War II ended, Dolhun was a wealthy man. Like many others, Dolhun enjoyed relaxing in the Northwoods, but unlike the average tourist happy with a weekend of fishing, Dolhun wanted an upscale place suited to his own personal tastes.