In the summer of 1889, 12 religious men got together and acquired more than 100 acres of property on a spectacular bluff 40 feet above the north shore of Pine Lake in La Porte, Indiana. They named their group the Indiana Baptist Assembly. Its purpose was to create a summer resort for fellowship, camping, fishing and boating amid a beautiful wooded environment. 

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Four years later, the Indiana Baptist Assembly was reorganized and renamed Pine Lake Assembly. Instead of holding the land in the name of a religious association, the group sold to private individuals who became stockholders in the new Assembly. They voted for directors to manage the business and day-to-day affairs of the resort.

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Bylaws were adopted and by the summer of 1911, all designated lots had been sold with the remaining land saved for community enjoyment. In 1926, stockholders passed a motion that the 22 acres of parkland owned by the Assembly were never to be sold and no buildings were to be constructed. 

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Almost ninety years later, stockholders decided the best way to ensure that community land would be protected from commercial development would be through the execution of a conservation easement with the La Porte County Conservation Trust. Under the arrangement, the Assembly agreed to make no changes or improvements to the land and in return the Trust protect it against any external threats thus maintaining its natural beauty in perpetuity. 

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In 2016, on the heels of the conservation easement, homeowners took another action with far-reaching implications. They voted to change the legal ownership structure of the grounds from a for-profit to a non-profit organization, thereby providing owners with significant tax benefits. As part of the reorganization, the Assembly legally changed its name to Pine Lake Land Owners' Association and members became known as shareholders.