Before the white man came to the Adirondacks, Inlet was a tourist destination. It wasn’t known as Inlet before 1902, but Native Americans were enjoying their summers here in Inlet. What is now Arrowhead Park was once the site of the Arrowhead Hotel, which was built by Fred Hess around 1895 and was originally known as Hess Inn. Before Fred Hess started building here, this was the location of the summer campgrounds for Iroquois hunting parties. The Iroquois lost many of their arrows here over the years, so later, as this site was developed and built upon, arrowheads were frequently found on the ground. Hence the name “Arrowhead” was chosen for the hotel when Charles A. O’Hara purchased the property from Fred Hess. Fred also built and operated The Hess Camp in 1897 until Philo Wood bought the property from him and it became the Wood Hotel. Many other summer resort hotels sprang up in Inlet: Rocky Point Hotel, The Neodack Hotel, The Araho Hotel (now Holl’s Inn), The Seventh Lake House and the Parquet Hotel. So it was that Inlet continued to be a summer tourist destination.
Early transportation to Inlet was by foot and guide boat. The “sports” as they were known, or sportsmen, who came to fish and hunt, became the first white tourists to visit here. Early camps erected by guides were used to house the sports and the hospitality industry arrived in Inlet. As more people came to the area, demand grew for accommodations so camps were expanded into hotels and then new hotels were built. Transportation was enhanced when steamboats started to ply the waters of the Fulton Chain of Lakes from Old Forge to Inlet giving the growing number of tourists access to the hotels along the lakes. The railroad was extended from Thendara to Big Moose Station and a side leg was built from Carter Station to Raquette Lake with a station at Eagle Bay. Tourists could come to Eagle Bay by train and then by boat to Inlet. This soon led to the construction of a road from Eagle Bay to Inlet and tourists had an even easier time getting to Inlet. The road was extended to Seventh Lake from the hamlet of Inlet and then in 1924, Route 28 was finished and connected Old Forge to Raquette Lake passing through Inlet.
Inlet became a township and hamlet in 1902 when it was decided to break off from the Town of Morehouse and form the Town of Inlet. Frank Tiffany was the first Town Supervisor and held office for twenty-four years. Charles O’Hara, the first Postmaster and the first Town Clerk, was also involved in this political subdivision and is credited with naming the town. The first church in Inlet was Church of the Lakes built in 1901. Saint Anthony’s, a Roman Catholic Church was built next to the Presbyterian Church in 1915. The Inlet Community Church was established in 1950 when a dispute over the church organ split the congregation of the Church of the Lakes. This new church purchased the camp of Anna and Rose Flanagan and held services in the cottage until 1970 when the present Inlet Community Church was built and the cottage became the pastor’s residence.
Early clientele were wealthy and would frequently vacation for the whole summer or for at least one month in the summer. The depression years from 1929 to 1932 took its toll on the wealthy and subsequently on the tourist industry in Inlet. World War II was the next significant event to have an impact on tourism in Inlet with rationing and a major focus on winning the war. In 1946, the war was won, soldiers returned home and the post-war economy was booming. The middle class grew in numbers and wealth; they bought cars and hit the road. The road led to Inlet and motels became popular. Hotels with their elegant hospitality started to lose business to motels and cottages. Summer long vacations had contracted to month long vacations, then week long vacations and finally with the convenience of automobile travel, weekend tourism became big in Inlet. It was “a hot time in the old town” when college students found Inlet. The bar business grew, and at its peak, Inlet had eleven bars in town. Then the motorcycle crowd found Inlet. Eventually, bars burned or closed, the “bikers” were discouraged from returning to Inlet by a strong police effort, college students lost interest in an Inlet without bars and things quieted down.
There are few buildings still standing in the Town of Inlet that date back to the late eighteen hundreds, but many of the earliest buildings have been lost to fires over the years. Most of the existing camps and buildings were constructed in the period prior to the “Great Depression” in 1929 and were intended and built for summer use only. Some of these have been restored or updated for year round use and some have been changed significantly through major additions. In recent years, a few large homes of modern design and construction have been built on previously undeveloped land or have replaced old camps that have been torn down to make room for these new homes.