Description:
The land was acquired between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. It consists of 50-plus pieces of property, which included many farms. Ground was broken for the lake in June 1971. Because of the construction of Routes I-95 and I-295, the lake basin was excavated at no cost to the county. The county sold the gravel to the highway contractors, which in turn helped excavate the basin now known as Lake Mercer. At the peak of excavation there was one truckload of gravel leaving the area per minute from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., six days per week.