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Gray's Lake Park is a park containing 
The Kruidenier Trail pedestrian bridge that crosses the lake was designed by Cal Lewis. The bridge is 1,400 feet long, 16 feet wide and goes over the lake connecting two parts of the path around the lake. Lights on both sides of the bridge illuminate the path of the bridge at night with many colors.
The park contains a sandy beach on the west side of the lake, a swing set, a boat rental stand, and two entrances to the park with their respective parking lots and restrooms.
Gray's Lake
''Gray's Anatomy'' is a reference book of human anatomy written by Henry Gray, illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter and first published in London in 1858. It has had multiple revised editions, and the current edition, the 42nd (October 202 ...
in Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...
and covers 166.6 acres. Located just southwest of downtown at 2101 Fleur Dr, Des Moines, IA. With over 1 million people visiting the park each year, it is the city's most known and most visited recreation area. The park has a trail encompassing the lake that is 1.9 miles long and a pedestrian bridge over part of the lake. The park is linked with the system of trails that travel throughout the city and nearby Water Works Park.
The lake spans 96.00 acres and is 16.4 ft at its deepest point. Gray's Lakes’ popular fish are Black Crappie, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Freshwater Drum, Largemouth Bass, River Carpsucker, White Crappie, Wiper, and Yellow Bass.
The Kruidenier Trail pedestrian bridge that crosses the lake was designed by Cal Lewis. The bridge is 1,400 feet long, 16 feet wide and goes over the lake connecting two parts of the path around the lake. Lights on both sides of the bridge illuminate the path of the bridge at night with many colors.
The park contains a sandy beach on the west side of the lake, a swing set, a boat rental stand, and two entrances to the park with their respective parking lots and restrooms.
History
Gray’s Lake was formed as anoxbow lake
An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...
of the Raccoon River
The Raccoon River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 26, 2011 tributary of the Des Moines River in central Iowa in the United States. As measured using the long ...
. In the 1950s the size of the lake was increased to almost 100 acres by a rock and sand quarry operation. After residents advocated for the creation of a park for the lake, the area near the lake was purchased by the city and developed the land into Gray’s Lake Park in 1970. After the flood of 1993
The Great Flood of 1993 (or Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993) was a flood that occurred in the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993.
The flood ...
damaged the area, a large donation by David and Elizabeth Kruidenier (a local couple) along with other donations were gifted for renovations of the park that brought it to its current appearance. This inspired hundreds of millions of dollars of development in downtown Des Moines. The Kruidenier Trail pedestrian bridge was built in 2000.
References
{{Reflist 1970 establishments in Iowa Parks in Des Moines, Iowa