Almost a square mile around, [tag]Lake Park[/tag] is an oasis between the clatter of the Veterans Expressway and Interstate-275 in northwest [tag]Hillsborough County[/tag]. There’s an archery range and equestrian facilities, a BMX bicycle track and picnic benches, lakes, swamps and hardwood hammocks. It’s empty space cherished by more than 500,000 people a year.And it’s owned, believe it or not, by the city of [tag]St. Petersburg[/tag].

The city of St. Petersburg entered into an agreement with a private contractor to develop the city’s first water well field in Hillsborough in 1929 at the site of [tag]Lake Rogers Park[/tag], off [tag]Racetrack Road[/tag] in the northwest part of the county. The city purchased the land outright 11 years later and has held that property ever since, said Bruce Grimes, the city’s real estate and property manager. And then in 1962, the city built a second well field at the current site of Lake Park. At about the same time, it also acquired the [tag]Pasco County[/tag] land, said Patti Anderson, director of the city’s Water Resources Department. he well fields continue to pump water today as part of the [tag]Tampa Bay Water system[/tag].

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