Lake Clare

Sometimes spelled “Lake Claire.”

A flooded stone quarry named for former Mayor Bangs that has a fitness park, picnic tables and fishing. It occasionally hosts motor boat and swimming races.

The Erie Stone Company was organized in February 27, 1906. At the location that is now Lake Clare, stone was quarried by hand and only two sizes were made, railroad ballast (the support base for railroad tracks and ties and crusher run (blended mix of course and fine aggregate used frequently in cement and for gravel roads). Operations at this site were discontinued in 1934 and the area was allowed to fill with water. A 1935 newspaper article speaks of the lake reading 40 feet deep in some spots and the conservation department was going to stock fish (Black bass, bluegill, rock bass and some sorts of trout) in the lake.

C. H.W. (Clare Hobart Williams) Bangs (1890-1973) was a mayor of Huntington, president of Huntington College, lawyer and editor of Huntington News. In 1933, he was charged with criminal libel and continued to run the paper from jail. In 1934, he was elected mayor of Huntington, Indiana, but he continued to serve jail time sporadically before being released in December 1940. Lake Clare was named after the mayor.

The Works Project Administration (WPA) began improvements to the land surrounding the abandoned quarry in 1937-38, while Mayor Bangs was still in office. Among the first enhancements added after basic grading and landscaping were the entrance pillars, a children’s wading pool, and an artificial beach. Later the beach became the basis for a larger swimming area. The park became extremely popular with residents and remained so for over 30 years. A change in management and land ownership/rental issues caused the park to close in the fall of 1968 except for special events until the park was purchased by Huntington Township in 1979.

Besides fishing, which continues to be popular in the stocked lake, Lake Clare has hosted motor boat races on and off since 1937. The latest series of races began in 2010 and are held annually. They are sponsored by the Indiana Outboard Association and named in honor of Harry Brinkman, a long-time racer. Starting in 1957 and running until 1986, Lake Clare hosted annual distance swimming races for the Amateur Athletic Union. Known as the “Huntington Mile Swim,” these races brought the best swimmers from around the country. Periodic attempts to revive the meets have been made since 2010.

In 2017, a fitness park was installed on the lake’s north side with 20 obstacles of varying difficulties. The inability to maintain this area because of vandalism caused it to be shuttered after only a couple of years. However in July of 2021 it was revitalized, reopened and can be used. 

1. Obituary. Herald Press [Huntington IN] 4 Oct 1973
2. “Clare W. H. Bangs.” Huntingtoncountyhonors.org. accessed 14 May 2022. https://www.huntingtoncountyhonors.org/Honorees/Clare-H.W.-Bangs
3. “How it Was.” Herald-Press, 24 March 1989..
4. “To Plant Fish in the Abandoned Quarry” Herald-Press, 16 July 1935.
5. HCTPL Lake Clare history file
6. Huntington Township, page 87. c1920. Plat Books of Indiana Counties Vol. 3. Lombard, Illinois: Sidwell Studio. https://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/IndianaPlat/id/2917 Accessed 25 May 2022.
7. Huntington Township. 1949. Highway and Drainage Map of Huntington County, Indiana. Huntington County Engineering Department.
8. "Boat Racing Returns." The Tab [Huntington, IN] 28 May 2024.