In 1890, the Board of Trustees
commissioned Merry L. Pence to survey prospects for a campus lake. The early campus catalogs describe the university
lake as deriving from the “natural conformation of the ground and an abundant
supply of water from the Maxwell Spring.”
These two things rendered the construction of an artificial lake with a boating
course a quarter of a mile in length, “thus providing for a beautiful sheet of
water to add to the attractions of the landscape.” It was six feet deep at the Limestone Street
end and three feet deep at the other.
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| Barker Hall, left and the Main Building, right. |
In the summer, students boated on
the lake and in the winter, they ice skated. But by 1917, the lake had become
an eyesore for the campus and it had essentially become a swamp. Discussions by
the Board of Trustees to either restore it as a lake or turn it into a
botanical garden ensued. The problem was
resolved in the 1920s during preparation of the ground for building the Alumni
Gymnasium and McLean Stadium.
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