Here in the southwestern corner of Washington Park, water opens out into a broad, quiet lake. The water spreads across 5.2 acres (21,000 m2), about 1,600 feet (490 m) long and 140 feet (43 m) wide, with a mean depth of 6.6 feet (2.0 m) and deepest sections just over 11 feet (3.4 m). Next to the lake you can see the Washington Park Lakehouse and an amphitheater where the Park Playhouse performs musicals in the summer.
A wrought-iron pedestrian bridge spans the lake at its narrowest point; it is the only remaining original structure in Washington Park. Erected over the lake in 1875, the lamps on the bridge were originally gas burning and were electrified in 1881. The lake invites seasonal activity — ice skating is permitted while swimming is prohibited.
In 1986, after years of the lake being two to three feet below its normal depth, the city repaired cracks and leaks in a concrete spillway. When the lake continued about one foot below normal level, the next year another leak was found where a 70-foot-tall (21 m) beech tree had grown on top of a 19th-century brick sewer pipe. Follow the wrought-iron bridge across to the Lakehouse and the amphitheater, where summer musicals still fill the Park Playhouse stage.