Editing Lafayette, Colorado (section)

==Recreation==
Lafayette's most popular recreation destination is the city-owned Waneka Lake, a man-made reservoir situated in Waneka Lake Park at West Emma Street and Caria Drive.

Waneka Lake Park is a recreational and wildlife refuge in a suburban setting. Waneka Lake Park features playground structures, shelter facilities, picnic tables, benches, fishing areas, and a 1.2 mile fitness trail for walking, biking or running within its 147 acres.<ref>{{cite web|last1=City of Lafayette|title=Recreation Facilities|url=http://www.cityoflafayette.com/Facilities/Facility/Details/50|access-date=March 29, 2018}}</ref>

The southeast corner of Waneka Lake Park features Lafayette's oldest structure, the Waneka Granary, built in the 1870s. The late Charles "Clancy" Waneka believed that Lafayette pioneer Adolf Waneka built it, while Clancy's cousin, Charles "Chuck" Waneka has always argued that the pioneer Harmon Family built it. The structure provides an excellent window into early construction methods including hand hewn logs and square iron nails.<ref name="LafHist" />

Colorado Div. of Water Resources records (Dam ID = 060225) indicate that the lake was built by Adolf Waneka in 1865 to hold water coming out of a nearby spring. This was corroborated by Clancy Waneka, who in 1989 told the ''Lafayette News'' that "Sometime in the 1860s (Adolf Waneka) scooped out a small reservoir that held about 13-acre-feet and this was recorded and is a matter of record in the State Engineer's office."<ref name="LafNewsCentennial">{{cite news |title=Clancy Waneka |publisher=Lafayette News |date=September 27, 1989}}</ref> Adolf gave his interest in the lake to his son, Henry "Boye" Waneka, who then sold to William, Frank and Guy Harmon in 1897. Northern Colorado Power Company documents from 1906 and reservoir records at the Colorado Div. of Water Resources both show that the original name of Waneka Lake was "Henry Waneka No. 1 Reservoir."<ref name="LafHist" /> Northern Power expanded the lake, which was later called Plant Lake, in 1906 to store 28&nbsp;million cu. ft. ({{formatnum:790000}}&nbsp;m<sup>3</sup>) of water for its steam generators. Mary Miller and the power company split 50/50 the rights to the additional water stored. When town founder Mary Miller owned the lake, it was known as the Millar and Harmon Reservoir.<ref name="LafHist" />

Northern Colorado Power Company constructed a 6,000 kilowatt Northern Colorado and Interurban Power Plant on the south edge of Plant lake in 1905–06. It supplied alternating current to the electric-powered Interurban passenger trolley service that connected Boulder to Denver. Joseph J. Henry of Denver developed the power plant business plan and directors included W.F. Crossley, Tyson Dines, W.H. Allison, Sen. F.E. Warren (from Wyoming), William J. Barker, Thomas Kelly, Robert S. Ellison, William Mayer and C.C. Bromley.<ref name="LafHist" />

Blue Ribbon Hill east of Lafayette was initially thought to be the best place for the new Northern Colorado electric plant, due to the presence of Coal Creek water. The power plant was instead located at what is now Waneka Lake. Boulder County Clerk records show that Mary Miller bought the reservoir in 1904 from William, Frank and Guy Harmon, but the Harmons retained rights to some of the water flowing into Miller and Harmon Reservoir. The power plant was last used in the 1920s and was torn down in 1963.<ref name="LafHist" />

Boulder County Clerk and Recorder records show that the City of Lafayette bought "Henry Waneka Reservoir" from J.B. Telleen in October 1972. Several years later, the State of Colorado deemed the reservoir unsafe, but the City of Lafayette made repairs and brought the reservoir up to muster.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Patten|first1=Andrew R.|title=History of Waneka Lake – Lafayette, Colorado|date=2006}}</ref>