Dates

1957 created

History

Located at the interchange of I-88 and IL-53 on the Arboretum's West Side, Arbor Lake was excavated as a gravel source for the construction of the toll road. In May 1957 CKG (Cagney, Kenney and Garwala) began digging an abandoned cornfield to excavate gravel and Arbor Lake took form as water filled in. The toll road itself was constructed and completed in 1958, and in 1960, the Arboretum's director, Clarence Godshalk, fished in Arbor Lake for the first time. Arbor Lake is the largest and deepest of the Arboretum's lakes.

Sources

1. DeSain, Carol. "Observations on Arbor Lake." The Morton Arboretum Quarterly 13, no. 4 (1977): 60-63.
2. Godshalk, Clarence. "The Outline of The Morton Arboretum Development." The Morton Arboretum Records. Sterling Morton Library, The Morton Arboretum. 1972.
3. "Tram Script - 2018." The Morton Arboretum Records. Sterling Morton Library, The Morton Arboretum. 2018.