The Forest Lake Sportsmen’s Club traces its roots back to a 1916 photo appearing in a Forest Lake newspaper article describing how Forest Lake Sportsmen’s Club members helped the DNR to stock fish in Forest Lake that summer.

The Forest Lake Sportsmen’s Club was founded by local shooters who desired a safe, private and user-friendly place to shoot firearms with their families. A small parcel of land was acquired and a trap & rifle range was carved out. The club was incorporated in 1937 but during the war years of the early 40’s, the club curtailed its activities, directing their focus on winning the war. When peace was won, its members could once again enjoy their sport on their own land. A clubhouse fire seemed to doom the club but in the latter 40’s, & early 50’s, a rebirth of the club found membership shares being sold for $100 dollars each, to current members and new, to bring new life to the club and help pay for the growing costs of new improvements to the grounds including a clubhouse. Five trap fields were eventually built where the six fields are located today including two skeet fields. A 300 yard rifle range was also incorporated into the area, superimposed on the trap & skeet fields, making it difficult to enjoy both shooting venues at the same time. It was found in the 50’s that a larger clubhouse was needed and a construction add-on, more than doubled the size of the clubhouse. The modification can be seen today, in the two different levels of roofs on the existing building.

In the late 50’s, early 60’s, more land was purchase west of the clubhouse, where the tall pines grow today. These were planted by club members and the boy scouts.