A History of Arnold Lake in Thurston County

Arnold Lake, center, from the air, 2022. Photo credit: Thurston County GeoData Center
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Although it appears on the earliest territorial maps of Thurston County, the small lake near the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Evergreen Parkway technically does not have an official name. But like many geographic features it does have a commonly used name: Arnold Lake. It was named in honor of Charles and Anna Arnold who lived in the area at the turn of the 20th Century.

Thurston County’s Charles and Anna Arnold

Carl Wilhelm Arnold was born February 19, 1859, in Maienfels in the German province of Württemberg to Gottlieb James Martin Arnold and Catharine Dorothee Lay Arnold. Carl immigrated to the United States in 1882, arriving in New York City on the ship Stella out of Amsterdam. From there, he Americanized his name to Charles, or Charley, and moved to Hanover, Kansas to work as a laborer. Many German immigrants lived in the area.

In Hanover, Charles met Anna Schroeder. She was born April 16, 1865, in Illinois to Henry (1831-1915) and Dorethea “Dora” Schroeder (1836-1902), German immigrants. Charles and Anna married on December 9, 1884.

The couple would have eight children: George (1885-1966), Bertha Sather (1888-1973), Fred (1892-1902), Gustave Adolph (1894-1966), Dora May (1897-1984), Antone “Tony” (1899-1993), Ernest Martin (1902-1994) and Frank (1905-1961).

The Arnold family came to Thurston County in 1889, taking a homestead claim in the McLane area. McLane is named for William McLane, who moved there in 1852. Arnold’s claim was finalized in 1898.

The land the Arnolds picked was on the shores of a small lake that eventually took the family’s name, Arnold Lake. The name, however, never became official. Today the Lake measures around a half-acre in size. The neighborhood would come to fish and boat on the body of water. In 1907, son George Arnold took the family’s raft out in a failed attempt to rescue teenager Charles Lester, who drowned after falling from his brother’s canoe.

Charles Arnold sold wood. He unsuccessfully tried to supply firewood to the state capitol in 1901. In 1905 he won a bid to provide firewood at $3.04 a cord to the Garfield School. However, Charles developed diabetes, which was untreatable at the time. He moved briefly to Monitor in Chelan County in 1908 to homestead in hopes that it would improve his health. It did initially, but he soon moved back home.

On March 9, 1909, Charles passed away at St. Peter’s Hospital. He left behind a widow, seven children and, “great many friends to mourn his death,” the Morning Olympian reported.

black and white photo of Lake Arnold
‘Timeless Arnold Lake Survives Concrete Invasion.’ announced the article accompanying this picture from the Daily Olympian, May 30, 1976. Photo courtesy: Washington State Library

Arnold Lake History: Transition Years

The Arnold family continued to operate their farm on the shores of the lake. Though a landmark, it often went unnoticed. It was simply, in the words of George Elder, former Thurston County commissioner to the Daily Olympian in 1972, the place, “Where the Arnold family lived.” Anna passed away on December 19, 1947.

Very few mentions of the lake made the newspaper. The McLane Volunteer Fire Department demonstrated their new pump fire truck at the lake in 1951. In 1956 two teenage girls were rescued from drowning by an Olympia High School freshman. The body of water was described as an “oversized pond called Arnold’s Lake by McLane School.”

Although residents often called the lake Muddy Hole and Muddy Lake, since the water was undrinkable and often too dirty to swim in, it was a fishing spot. In 1921 the Thurston County Game Commission stocked Arnold Lake with 50,000 silver trout fry.

A 1948 Daily Olympian article even called it a “Fisherman’s Paradise.” To keep the lake from overflowing its banks in winter, the Arnold family piped water to a nearby field. After the water subsided, kids from all around the area would come, with the Arnolds’ permission, to pick up fish left in the field. Youngsters also enjoyed swimming in the summer and when it got cold enough some years in winter, ice skating. It was safe, since the lake was mostly shallow.

Preserving Arnold Lake

But things changed with the construction of U.S. Highway 101 just 100 feet south of Arnold Lake in 1957. And then in 1969 the state legislature approved a road to connect the southern edge of The Evergreen State College to Highway 101. This road would cross Arnold Lake, destroying it.  

But many did not want to see the little lake drained. Through the efforts of the City of Olympia, Thurston Regional Planning Office, State Department of Transportation and Evergreen State College the road became the scenic Evergreen Parkway that protected the environment. providing a green screen from urban development. This also spared Arnold Lake. “I had been interested in the area for some time, particularly Arnold Lake,” Claude Lakewold, then an assistant director of the Thurston Regional Planning Office, told the newspaper in 1976, “as we felt the aesthetic value was worth the extra effort to create a truly unique parkway.”

a field with cross fencing and a wooden sign that says McLane Dog Park
Today McLane Dog Park, 4421 Mud Bay Road NW, is near Arnold Lake. The Lake is not accessible. Photo credit: Jennifer Crooks

Students from nearby McLane Elementary School would work over the years keeping the area weeded and restoring habitat. In 2020 the Olympia School District leased land near the lake to the city of Olympia. It opened as McLane Dog Park the next year. The lake is not readily accessible to the public.

Despite all the changes Arnold Lake endures, a peaceful spot surrounded by roads. “Barring unforeseen natural disaster,” wrote Dana Campbell of the Department of Ecology in the Daily Olympian in 1976, “Arnold Lake probably will outlive us all.” Perhaps it is time the lake gets its name officially.

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