History
Sandy Creek, the stream that was dammed to create Lake Wilhelm, was noted in reports made by George Washington during his 1753 trip to Fort LeBoeuf during the French and Indian War. Sandy Creek had a recurring history of flooding. This led to a study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The study began in 1939. Plans were delayed by the start of World War II but the citizens of Mercer County could see the benefit of building a flood control dam on Sandy Creek. The state, county, township and municipal authorities of the surrounding area worked together to push forward the idea of building the dam and recreational facilities in Mercer County. The land was acquired in the late 1960s. Construction on the dam began soon after and was completed in 1971. Maurice K. Goddard State Park was opened to the public in 1972.
Maurice K. Goddard State park is named for Maurice K. Goddard. Goddard was a graduate of the University of Maine and the University of California at Berkeley. After reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel during World War II, Goddard came to Pennsylvania where he took a job at Mont Alto Forestry School and later at Penn State Main Campus before he was appointed Secretary of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Forests and Waters, a forerunner of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Upon taking his position with the state, Goddard set about completing his goal of having a state park within 25 miles (40 km) of every resident of Pennsylvania. When Goddard retired in 1979, after 24 years working for the state parks, he had helped to add 45 state parks and over 130,000 acres (52,600 ha) of state park land to the Pennsylvania State Park system.
Read more about this topic: Maurice K. Goddard State Park
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The disadvantage of men not knowing the past is that they do not know the present. History is a hill or high point of vantage, from which alone men see the town in which they live or the age in which they are living.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Look through the whole history of countries professing the Romish religion, and you will uniformly find the leaven of this besetting and accursed principle of action—that the end will sanction any means.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“When the coherence of the parts of a stone, or even that composition of parts which renders it extended; when these familiar objects, I say, are so inexplicable, and contain circumstances so repugnant and contradictory; with what assurance can we decide concerning the origin of worlds, or trace their history from eternity to eternity?”
—David Hume (1711–1776)