By Brian E. Clark
Special To Channel 3000

Some 120 years ago, upscale Chicagoans by the thousands left the steamy city, boarded passenger trains and headed north to Wisconsin's posh Osthoff Hotel for summer vacations.

Alas, the passenger trains no longer run to Elkhart Lake, Wis., but vacationers from around the Midwest and beyond are still flocking to this classy resort that is up-to-date, yet a wonderful throwback to the 19th century.

It's also a great place to take a family, as I found on a recent visit.

With a well-conceived children's program, mom and dad can get a breather while the munchkins are entertained with a wide variety of program choices.

The resort also has a spa, two restaurants, three swimming pools and a 500-foot beachfront on the shores of a deepwater lake that is surrounded by quaint boathouses that also date back more than a century.

We only stayed for two nights on our recent visit. But if scheduling had permitted, we could easily have doubled our time there.

We arrived on a Friday afternoon after a two-hour drive from Madison, found our room in the new wing that was built just last summer and soon set out to explore the expansive grounds of the resort.

Then, we headed for Otto's, the casual restaurant in the main building, just a stone's throw from the hotel's two outdoor pools and an equally short distance from the indoor pool.

We dined as the sun began to fade and strolled the grounds again after dinner. We sat beside the lake and listened to music wafting our way from a nearby resort.

The next morning, after breakfast in our suite -- which was complete with a small kitchen -- we headed out early for a coffee and juice cruise on a resort pontoon boat.

Our guide, Drew Gehrts, was a pleasant young man who was a recent graduate from a high school in nearby New Holstein, which, apparently, supplies a good number of young staff for the hotel.

He regaled us with stories about the lake and its visitors, including celebrities such as Tom Cruise, who once owned a home there, and Paul Newman, who has raced cars at Road America just a few miles away. At times during our stay, we could hear the rumble of engines from a Chicago Porsche club rally.

Gehrts also pointed out what was one of the highlights of the trip for me, the dozen-plus 100-year-old boathouses that dotted the shore of the lake.

Some of them were in top condition and had a gingerbread-style architecture, which reminded me of miniature Victorians.

We also learned that the resort was opened in 1886 by German entrepreneur Otto Osthoff and his spouse, Paulina. Their hotel soon became popular -- especially with Chicago's elite -- who enjoyed luxurious accommodations, quality entertainment and fine food.

By 1900, another five resorts had opened at Elkhart Lake, attracting not only business leaders but gangsters who frequented blackjack games and local speakeasies.

By the 1950s, however, the tiny resort community had fallen into decline and the hotel became a drama and arts camp for more than 30 years. In 1989, the hotel was reborn when a group of investors took it over, reopening the Osthoff in 1995. It has earned the honored AAA Four Diamond rating for the past seven years.

Back at the dock, we shuttled the children off to a "Fun in the Sun" activity with resort counselors. My wife Kathleen and I lounged in the shade and watched our kids and a handful of other children make colorful chalk paintings on the sidewalk, play Frisbee, Bocce ball, tag and other games that made the hour-plus session fly by.

In the early afternoon, the children took a cooking class while we had time to read and I got the chance to walk around the small village of Elkhart Lake, look at historic homes and get a feel for the charming town.

Later that day, we climbed aboard a carriage and got a narrated tour of the town from Richard Wittgreve, the proprietor of Queen Anne Carriage Rides.

This clip-clopping adventure, another throwback to an early era, was much more extensive than my wanderings and answered a lot of my questions about the history of the small village.

Our 5-year-old daughter Maddie was especially enamored with the big draft horse, a 2,000-pound Percheron pulling the Amish-made carriage. The 3-year-old Anders was rocked to sleep in his mother's lap by the motion of the carriage.

That evening we took advantage of the hotel's baby-sitting service and escaped to Lola's on the Lake for a grownups-only meal. The views of the lake were lovely, the food was delicious, the casual, fine-dining atmosphere was relaxing yet elegant.

The only thing we couldn't squeeze into our trip to the resort was a visit to the hotel's Aspira Spa, which offers a plethora of massages, facials and other treatment options.

But I've got a feeling we'll be going back for another getaway. We might even leave the kids with their grandparents.

For more information on the Osthoff Resort, call 800-876-3399 or look up its Web site at www.osthoff.com. Summer rates start at $220 a night for a one-bedroom suite, though less expensive packages are available.