For the record, the cost of the Shelter House at Twin Lakes Park was paid by public subscription and named Spicer Shelter. Mr. Ray Spicer was the largest contributor, having donated $5000.00. Prior to his death in 1950, he was President of the Paris Park Board. A plaque was erected on the Spicer Shelter in 1954, with the in¬scription:

SPICER SHELTER DEDICATED 1954

The plaque included the names of the members of the Paris Park Board at that time.

Mr. Arden Pratt, Earl Pratt and Miss Elizabeth Huston of Paris remember visiting a small zoo in the park. The zoo had ostriches, six prairie dogs, goats, raccoons, one big black bear, one small bear and monkeys. The Zoo Manager was C. E. Pier¬son, who was also the Game Warden.

Balloon ascensions were held on the Fourth of July and other holidays from the West Park area. Mr. Carl Stacy of the Paris Park Board remembers the balloon would ascend and the operator then would jump out in a parachute, sometimes he would land in the park and sometimes he would land in the lake.

Miss Elizabeth Huston remembers swimming in the lake with moss floating around and with being covered with leeches and moss. (Where was the Environmental Protection Agency in those days? How did the people survive with so much pollution? Very well)

Mrs. Frank Meehling of Marshall, Illinois, remembers when she was a small girl in the first or second grade at St. Mary’s school in Paris (Mrs. Meehling was born near Redmon in 1898) and she had gone for a surrey ride with a family of a playmate. We were supposed to be riding on the lake bottom. It was hard, dry and cracked, and which lake it was, was undoubtedly Reservoir Park lake bottom. Mr. Paxson Link also remembers riding a horse across the lake bottom a couple of times.

East Lake Reservoir was constructed about 1916, with a capacity of about 200 million gallons. It was about this time that the park and lake area became known as Twin Lakes Park.

A dancing pavilion was located on the south bank of West Lake where the first bayou flows into the lake west of the railroad.

In June 1920, Sunday dancing was prohibited at the park.

A 20-mile speed limit was placed on the roads through the park.

The State Game and Fish Commission officially designated the lake as a fish pre¬serve on May 15, 1923.
1928 was the last year for streetcars in Paris. The streetcars used to run down Main Street to the park.