Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park

Walter E. Long Metropolitan Park is defined by a vast, horseshoe-shaped reservoir that dominates the landscape, originally created by damming Decker Creek in nineteen sixty-seven. This lake was engineered to serve as a cooling source for an adjacent power plant, but it quickly became a destination for fishing and boating. The city acquired thousands of acres of surrounding farmland to form the park, which officially opened to the public in nineteen seventy.