University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, August 22, 1990
7
Keith Thorpe/KANSAN
Amanda Chiles, Kansas City, Mo., graduate student, takes a break from letter writing by Potter Lake.
Potter Lake's past runs deep
By Julie Cornwell Special to the Kansan
Special to the Kansan
The year was 1911, and the University of Kansas needed an adequate method of fire protection.
The solution: Potter Lake.
Potter Lake is enjoyed by many students as a place to relax and appreciate the scenery but the lake is also full of water in case of a fire on campus.
The Board of Regents decided in the fall of 1910 to construct a lake that would serve primarily as a reservoir, according to University Archives.
The Regents selected a site in a ravine north of Marvin Hall. A dam was built across the ravine and enclosed the drainage slopes in a two-acre basin 16 feet deep at one end.
Spring runoff, assisted by city water mains, soon turned the ravine
into a lake. Below the dam, a motor-driven pump was installed to force an ample supply of water to any part of the campus.
The practical reasoning behind building the lake is now gone, and what remains is a campus beauty spot.
"Aesthetics is the primary purpose of the lake today," said Robert Porter, associate director of physical plant maintenance.
Commencement in the early 1900s included an annual regatta on the Kaw River at the boating docks above the Massachusetts Street dam. The idea to hold the regatta in Potter Lake was conceived.
The commencement regatta on June 5, 1911 served as something of a dedication for the lake, named in memory of the late Admiral, a former member of the Regents
During the course of the com-
menenced ceremonies, a whale was sighted to the surprise of several hundred spectators. A few men attempted to capture the whale, but it eluded them and plunged into the water, never to be seen again, according to the archives. No one ever explained how a whale appeared in a man-made, freshwater lake.
The lake claimed its first victim before it was completed in the spring of 1911. A group of civil engineers attending a party in Marvin Hall were returning home late at night when they decided to swim across the lake and back. One of them drowned, according to the archives.
Drowning occurred frequently in succeeding years. The University Daily Kansas reported in 1921 that at least six students had lost their lives in Potter and urged adequate protection for bathers and swimmers.
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