Elk Rapids thrived in the late nineteenth century because of a lumber industry boom and local iron and chemical manufacturing plants, but as the economy declined, people left to find work, and between 1910 and 1920 the town lost two-thirds of its population. In 1921, residents formed the Elk Rapids Resort and Industrial Association to build a golf course and increase tourism. In a September 1922 special election, voters passed a $9,000 bond for park purposes, including the golf course. The association hired Scottish golf course architect Donald J. Ross, whose previous work included the Oakland Hills course in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Donald Ross chose the sixty-acre Gumbert farm as the park's location because it was close to town and offered electricity on a lake-front building site. Workers converted the one-and-a-half-story farmhouse into a clubhouse, and construction on the nine-hole course began in May 1923. The Elk Rapids Golf Club was incorporated in August 1923, with shares sold for one hundred dollars each. The Golf Park held its grand opening with a community picnic on July 15, 1924, as local businesses and the post office closed for part of the day and visitors came from Traverse City and across the county to play on the new course.