Lake Roland (Maryland) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lake Roland |
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Lake Roland
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 Lake Roland
Location in Maryland
Lake Roland
Location in the United States
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| Location | Towson, Baltimore County, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 39°22′42″N 076°38′35″W / 39.37833°N 76.64306°W |
| Type | reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Jones Falls, Towson Run, Roland Run |
| Primary outflows | Jones Falls |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 100 acres (40 ha) |
| Surface elevation | 246 ft (75 m) |
Lake Roland is a 100-acre (0.40 km2) defunct reservoir in Baltimore County, Maryland. It was named for Roland Run, a nearby stream that feeds the lake and eventually flows into Jones Falls. It runs southeast through the city center to the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and the Baltimore Harbor. It is located just north of the Baltimore city limits.
The lake is contained within the bounds of Lake Roland Park, which was established in the 1920s and supervised by the newly organized Baltimore City Department of Parks and Recreation. The lake is an artificial impoundment created by a dam on Jones Falls and two smaller streams: Towson Run and Roland Run. The lake supports wildlife including Canada geese, largemouth bass, and common carp. The lake is part of the Lake Roland Historic District.
History
Once called Lake Swann to honor Mayor Thomas Swann of Baltimore City who had begun the construction of the dam at the Relay House then on the Northern Central Railroad. The name Roland comes from Roland Run which was named sometime before 1694 when Roland or Rowland Thornberry owned a land tract in the area.
In 1854, the City of Baltimore bought the entire holdings of the privately-owned Baltimore Water Company, which had supplied water to the city for fifty years, accompanied by acquisition of the land held by the Bellona Gunpowder Mill and the Eagle Factory, a textile mill, by 1857 for $289,000. This purchase followed a political controversy regarding the failure of the company to extend new water lines into surrounding out-lying areas of the city. The city had added territory in its last annexation in 1818. As a result of the new ownership of the area, certain industries became displaced. These included the Bellona Gunpowder Mill which had operated from at least 1801 on the west side of the lake, and the Eagle Factory, which had operated there since at least 1814, while the Baltimore & Susquehana Railroad stayed in place, with destruction by pro-Confederate forces during the American Civil War and reconstruction by pro-Union forces as they advanced southward.
Using engineer James Slade, from Hartford, Connecticut, who improved the existing network based on "old Jones Falls mill ponds," and had a detailed plan in place, and construction supervisor Charles P. Manning, construction began in 1858, with the creation of an "indestructible" dam made out of "heavy rubble work" comprised of ground-up gigantic stone. By 1861, Lake Roland became the first municipal water supply for the City of Baltimore, seen as an "engineering landmark" at the time. The dam and Greek Revival style pumping building on the eastern shore of the lake were constructed around 1862. While plans to tap the Gunpowder River stopped with new reservoirs in the city and stop-gap measures at Lake Roland, by 1877, Lake Roland was fed by the river, with this idea likely coming from Slade rather than Henry Tyson, another engineer. Shortness of water was not the only problem the lake experienced. At times, the water was "clouded or turbid from rain-borne particles" as dredging attempted to make the reservoir deeper, with increased mud and silt closing the lake for hundreds of days by 1912, along with costs in the thousands of dollars for upkeep. Still, by 1893, some were admiring Lake Roland by calling it "one of our reservoirs," saying that it was "well-stocked with Black Bass and Carp" while noting that Least Terns, Black Ducks, Green Herons, Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned night herons, Semipalmated Sandpipers, Bufflehead,and many other birds could be seen in the reservoir. It was around this time that the Lack Roland Elevated Railway, created in 1891, ferried commuters "from the city to Roland Park," with some going to Left Side Park, which was near the lake, a railway lasting until at least 1939.
However, due to the problems the reservoir experienced, it was no surprise that the dam was abandoned for its original purpose. On November 19, 1915, due to silting problems and use of Loch Raven reservoir, the lake's use was terminated, apart from its use again on December 2 that year. The following year, some parts of the lake were sold to the L'Hirondelle Club and the county's division of the water department was established, with the county's water engineer seeing the lake as an "emergency backup" for the city's water.
While the lake came under the management of the City in 1918, not much changed in its status. In 1937, a park was proposed for the area named "Leakin Park" named after the former mayor, which was used for another city park, but was later named Robert E. Lee Park in 1944 when Mrs. Elizabeth Garrett White gave $80,000 to the city for the park. In years following, the iron bridge crossing the lake was sold for scrap, and lowering water level, along with growing amounts of silt. With the building of I-695 and the Jones Falls Expressway, along with expansion of Towson University, silt increased in Lake Roland tremendously, with the lake comprising of 60% silt by 1974. Some ruins of the past railroad, mills, and reservoir use could be found in the areas by the later 1970s, with un-substantiated claims of a camp of Chinese laborers who would have been working on the railroad.
Since 1986, elevated levels of chlordane in the flesh of the lake's fish have resulted in the issuance of a fish consumption advisory and the classification of the lake as a water-quality impaired segment.
Geographic location
Some of the wealthiest and most desirable communities in the Baltimore area adjoin the park. The L'Hirondelle Club was founded by wealthy members of the local community for rowing on the lake. It is bounded in Baltimore County by Ruxton to the north, Woodbrook to the east, and north Roland Park-Poplar Hill to the south. Further to the south are the wealthy city neighborhoods of Roland Park, Homeland, and Guilford.
The park is also bounded in the west by the community of Bare Hills, one of the oldest African-American settlements in the area.
To the west and southwest of the lake is the railroad track remains of the Greenspring Branch and the station/junction, known as "Relay House" which burned in 1869 for the the old Northern Central Railroad, which was formerly the Baltimore and Susquehanna Railroad.
The Central Light Rail Line of the Maryland Transit Administration and state Department of Transportation which runs from Cromwell Station near Glen Burnie in Anne Arundel County to the south, through the city, to Hunt Valley and Timonium Industrial Park in Baltimore County in the north, since the early 1990s, runs along a track embankment and plate girder bridge through the middle of the lakes lower portion above the dam.
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. MD-81, "Lake Roland Dam, Spanning outlet of Lake Roland near Woodbridge Road, Towson vicinity, Baltimore County, MD", 2 photos, 7 data pages, 1 photo caption page
- HAER No. MD-81-A, "Lake Roland Dam, Gatehouse", 10 photos, 6 data pages, 1 photo caption page
Images for kids
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Lake Roland dam in 2019. The outflow is the Jones Falls
