Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Now that the weather has gotten warmer, one can look across the University’s campus and find the grass littered with people basking the in the warmth of the sun. An almost forgotten attraction is Potter Lake. To many students, this is just the location of many postgame victory celebrations, but the lake has much more to offer and a history many students know nothing about.
According the University Archives, this lake was an attraction for swimmers when it was first constructed in 1910. The lake was named after T.M. Potter, a former member of the Kansas Board of Regents.
Katie Goron a KU Ambassador said, “After first being constructed the lake was much larger and much deeper and at the time the lake was the only location on campus used for a swimming facility. The lake was also used as a means for emergency situations, such as fires on campus. In 1924, a diving tower and pier, springboards and dressing rooms were constructed as well. However, in 1927 after several fatal mishaps, swimming in the lake was banned altogether.”
Through the years the lake has become much more shallow, and it is no longer used in emergencies. After the lake was closed to swimmers there were a few people who used it for fishing and ice skating but this is no longer available because of the shallow depth and safety risks.
The lake today is used mainly as a beautiful addition to the scenery on campus, a great place to take a nap on a blanket on a warm spring day and the site of wedding receptions for many happy couples. But most of us still associate the lake with the “March of the Goal Post” after a victorious game in Memorial Stadium.
Maddie Herman, freshman, said that her favorite memory was “after the Kansas State game this year when we beat them 39-20 and watching the other students carry the posts down to the lake and throwing them in.”
Kansan staff writer Amanda Emery can be contacted at kblair@kansan.com.
— Edited by Sharla Shivers
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