Camp Highlands

Camp Highlands for Boys is a private summer camp in Sayner, Wisconsin. The camp was founded in 1904 by Harry O. Gillet, Director of the University of Chicago Laboratory School. (Mr. Gillet was the successor to Lab School founder John Dewey.) It was at the urging of Lab School parents that property on Plum Lake was purchased, removing the boys from an industrial, soot and stockyard choked Chicago, and immersing them in the Northwoods, where they would experience a summer of physical activity, wilderness and fellowship. Star Lake, adjacent to Plum, was the end of the line for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul railroad. Until 1922, the only transportation into the area was by rail and water. Boys were dropped at Plum Lake Station by the "Camp Special" (originating at Union Station in Chicago) and ferried to the opposite shore.

William J. Monilaw M.D., Laboratory School Doctor and Athletic Coach, bought the camp from Mr. Gillet in 1914. The former Drake University and University of Missouri athletic coach (football, track & field), directed until 1959, creating the physical and philosophical structures still in place today. Under his leadership, the camp experience grew to include wilderness tripping, athletic training and character building.

Notable alumni who may have been impacted by Camp Highlands and its philosophies include Senator William Proxmire, Cold War strategist and Ambassador to Russia George Kennan, and Heisman trophy winners Jay Berwanger and Nile Kinnick.