Spring Edition, March 20, 1985
Page 3
Veda Owens/KANSAN
VOSS OVERBOOKCENTER
Anne Dillon, Overland Park freshman, and Venita Pine, Bonner Springs freshman, take a break after classes to enjoy some nice weather. Dillon and Pine decided to be adventurous and walk down to Potter Lake.
Tales of Potter
Lake's history is reservoir of campus pleasure, tragedy
By MICHELLE WORRALL
Staff Reporter
Potter Lake isn't much of a lake. It wouldn't win any contests with Lake Michigan or even with Clinton Lake. But nevertheless, it's special.
Gone are the days of canoe racing and swimming during the lake's heyday. But a float trip down memory lane relives the years that are preserved only in faded photographs, memories and yellowed news climings.
clipping. Originally, Potter Lake was nothing more than a grassy hollow. But in the fall of 1910 the need for water in case of a fire on campus prompted officials to dam the ravine and collect the drainage from the surrounding slopes to pump to camps. Before then, the only available water was the city water supply, which would have been exhausted in five minutes.
But Potter's firefighting days were extinguished several years later when the city took over the municipal water supply and equipped the system so water could be supplied to KU.
POTTER LAKE rekindles memories of romance, ice skating parties — and tragedy. The waters of Potter Lake have claimed the lives of seven students.
The first accident occurred in the spring of 1911. A group of civil engineers, returning from a party
late one evening, shed their clothing and skimmed across the lake. One student never made it back to shore.
However, the new lake breathed life into the University of Kansas by providing recreation, tranquility and beauty.
After feeding on melting snow and spring rains, the lake made its debut on June 4.1911.
With a lake in their own backyard, students decided to hold their annual regatta at Potter Lake, named after State Seen. Thomas Potter, rather than at the Kaw River as in previous years, decided to be ready by commencement, temporary water lines from the city主的 helped fill the two-acre lake.
A YELLOWED black-and-white photograph of the first commencement at the lake shows men and children cooling off in the lake while women dressed in long white gowns hug the shore and fend off the heat with their parasols.
A whale of a tale still lingers from that afternoon. Legend has it that during the land events, a huge whale was spotted cavorting in the lake. It was recorded in the 1911 Graduate students' summer camp and volunteers showed off to investigate the mysterious sighting of an inland Mobv Dick.
But tragedy struck several yards from shore. The craft capsized, spilling the hearty lads in the lake. For
tunately, the confusion frightened the whale, and all hands were saved.
In the early 1920s, lifeguards, piers, a 20-foot diving tower, springboards and dressing rooms were built for the hot days of summer school.
THE UNIVERSITY claimed no responsibility for swimmers. And rules were issued to the summer students prohibiting "rowdyism, swearing, obscene language or dunking in the lake."
All swimmers were instructed to wear neat, dark-colored clothing.
During Potter's heyday, plans were made to cement the basin of the lake and to disinfect the water. But with the completion of the Lawrence in 1927, the plans were abandoned swimming in the lake was forbidden.
EVEN THOUGH swimming was prohibited in the lake, fraternity brothers were not deterred from tossing themselves into or conducting an aquatic top-of-war.
However, students' spirits weren't dampened for long. In 1935, model sailboat races surfaced on Potter Lake. That year, "Dark Horse" edged "The Spirit of Switzerland" by a bow in the exciting five-lap race. The lucky skipper was presented with an ostentate celluloid and glass trophy topped with a cupid toedancing on a bottle cork.
In the 1940s, many students spent
lazzy afternoons knocking golf balls
around the seven-hole course that surrounded the lake. It was at the water trap, the third hole on the west side of the lake, where most golfers live. At the little boys' lined at the shore in hopes of retrieving waterbound balls.
Forrest C. "Phog" Allen, KU basketball coach for 39 years, lamented in 1948 that "nature lovers ate all the fruit and shrubs all over the fairway."
The lake has been the target for pranksters on many occasions. In 1959, a flammable substance was poured in the lake and set afire.
The latest prank occurred a couple of years ago. Two cadavers were found sunbathing one sunny day along the shore.
In June 1958, the old swimming hole was nothing more than a mudhole. Through the years, more than 10 feet of silt had accumulated on the bottom of the lake. That summer, the plug was pulled, the dam was repaired, and the lake was dried and dredged.
Before the lake was drained, the KU Biological Survey poisoned the water and removed the fish.
However, an old Model T Ford didn't get away. The dredging crew reeled in the car along with two stock tanks, used by picknickers to cool beverages in the old days, and discovered bottles and beer cans mired in the mud.
At its heyday, Potter Lake was a hangout for swimmers and boaters. The lake, shown here in 1925, was named after State Sen. Thomas Potter.
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University Archive
Students once trokked regularly in Potter Lake, but the University took no responsibility for swimmers. Diving towers, springboards, piers and dressing rooms were added in the early 1920s.
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