[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.65″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”22″ border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n
Lyman Lakes<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.65″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” text_font_size=”18″ border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Ben Weiss<\/em><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.65″ background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\n Ninety-one years old, Stewsie was seen on a rain-soaked spring of 1974 working on and directing a landscape project near Carleton\u2019s main campus. A \u201cperipatetic dynamo of a little man,\u201d D. Blake Stewart (affectionately known as Stewsie) left an indelible mark on Carleton\u2019s campus. Responsible for much of the college\u2019s current natural scenery, Stewsie was Carleton\u2019s \u201ccrusty, cantankerous, hard-driving\u201d superintendent of buildings and grounds.<\/p>\n A \u201clittle tiger,” Stewsie was beloved by the Carleton student body. When he returned from a trip to Europe, where he studied landscaping techniques at the Louvre and the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, Stewsie was greeted with an article in the Carletonian titled, \u201cWelcome Home.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps Stewsie\u2019s greatest contribution to Carleton\u2019s campus was his landscaping of the Lyman Lakes. In fact, in an interview with the Carletonian, he said, \u201cThose lakes are the greatest physical assets this institution has.\u201d<\/p>\n A gift of Trustee George R. Lyman and his wife, Marietta, of Minneapolis in memory of their son George Huntington Lyman, the lakes date from 1916-1917. In the fall of 1916, a Duluth dredging outfit worked twenty-four hours a day to dredge the lake beds and form two islands. Bathing beaches were created for both lakes. For many years, the lakes served as the swimming facilities for the town. In the winter, skating and hockey facilities and toboggan slides were constructed near the upper lake.<\/p>\n To make the islands accessible, Stewsie built two wooden bridges to connect them to the shore. Once constructed, the larger island (aptly named Mai Fete) was used for yearly spring dance pageants until the mid-1960s when the tradition fell out favor with the student body. And appropriately, the smaller island in the lower lake is eponymously named \u201cStewsie.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery _builder_version=”3.0.65″ show_title_and_caption=”on” show_pagination=”on” gallery_ids=”403,402,400,401,398,399″ fullwidth=”off” orientation=”landscape” zoom_icon_color=”#1eaa98″ hover_overlay_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.9)” background_layout=”light” border_style=”solid” auto=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"