Easter Lake Park
| Easter Lake Park | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Easter Lake Park | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Coordinates | 41°32′25.7928″N 93°33′32.832″W / 41.540498000°N 93.55912000°W |
| Area | 468 acres (189 ha) |
| Established | 1967 |
| Owner | Polk County Conservation |
| Website | Easter Lake Park & Mark C. Ackelson Trail - Polk County Iowa |
Easter Lake is a 468 acres (189 ha) reservoir located in southeast Des Moines, Iowa, completed in 1967 for recreation.[1] The park has a 178 acres (72 ha) lake and a 4 miles (6.4 km) trail around it.[2] It has a 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) watershed and is owned and operated by Polk County Conservation.[3]
History
[edit]Before Easter Lake was created, it was a strip mine used to mine coal, which closed in 1959. In 1959 the strip coal mine was closed. In 1967, Easter Lake was officially opened.[4][5]
In 2000, Easter Lake was visited by about 400,000 people, making it one of the busiest parks in Polk County.[6] The lake was included on a registry of seriously polluted Iowan waterways in 2008.[7] On August 27, 2025, the Polk County Conservation found that the levels of E. coli in the lake made it unsafe to swim in.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Krogman, Rebecca (May 5, 2017). "Easter Lake". Friends of Reservoirs. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ "Easter Lake Park | Des Moines, Iowa". Travel Iowa. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ "Easter Lake Watershed & Fishery Renovation". Easter Lake Watershed Project. December 6, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
- ^ "History of Easter Lake". Easter Lake Watershed Project. December 28, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ "Easter Lake thriving thanks to local watershed improvement efforts | Department of Natural Resources". Iowa Department of Natural Resources. May 8, 2025. Retrieved September 6, 2025.
- ^ Clayworth, Jason (December 5, 2001). "County to spend $7.2 million on Easter Lake Park revamp". The Des Moines Register. p. 103. Retrieved September 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Pulliam, Jason (July 14, 2008). "Public's voice vital to Easter Lake fate". The Des Moines Register. pp. 1B2B. Retrieved September 18, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Reyna-Rodriguez, Victoria. "16 lakes have too much E. coli for safe swimming, final Iowa DNR beach monitoring shows". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved September 10, 2025.
 | This article about the geography of Polk County, Iowa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |