05/14/2026
How did Lundsten Lake get its name?
The Lundsten Lake you see in Carver Park Reserve today is largely man-made. What is now the lake's "south bay" began as a much smaller body of water. The Lundsten family, who lived on the hill overlooking it, simply called it "our lake" or sometimes Mud Lake. A neighbor reportedly called it Pig's Eye Pond. Interestingly, maps of the area show no official name for the lake as late as 1958.
The lake changed in the early 1960s when much of the surrounding land was acquired by the S.T. McKnight Company for development. Around 1961, an earthen dam was constructed on Six Mile Creek, just upstream from Parley Lake. The project flooded upstream wetlands and dramatically expanded the small lake near the old Lundsten farm. During construction, the growing body of water went by several informal working names—Lower Basin Lake, Lower Lake and New Lake.
Soon after, the Hennepin County Park Reserve District (now Three Rivers Park District) acquired the McKnight property to create Carver Park Reserve. Early park planning documents labeled this body of water as Lake III (with a nearby Lake I and Lake II). Somewhere along the line, Lake III became informally called Lundsten Lake (sometimes misspelled "Lunsten"). The new name reflected the family who had once farmed nearby. Though, when asked about the lake's name in 1978, Rhoda Lundsten (then 84 years old) said she, "has no feelings one way or the other on what the lake is finally called."
Today, you can pick up a Carver Park Reserve map and see the lake's official name—Lundsten Lake. Lake II was never given a new official name and still appears as Lake 2 on park maps today. Lake I is a story for another day.
