The following appeared in The Rock County Herald on Septmeber 18, 1931.
Luverne Lagoon Will Be Recreation Center
Excellent Swimming and Skating Facilities for Grading; Bridge Nears Completion
An excellent opportunity for swimming and skating will be afforded the people of Luverne and Rock county when the new lagoon now under construction north of the Luverne public park is completed. Lack of space, which has hampered facilities for a “good swimmin’ hole” and skating rink, will be a thing of the past. Not only that, but there will be a good sand and gravel bottom and the depth of the lagoon will be sufficient to make diving apparatus feasible.
The lagoon, which will be slightly larger than three acres in area, presents a scene of pronounced activity. There is a continual line of spectators watching the huge tractor-propelled dump carts carry the dirt used for grading the highway approaches to the new Rock river bridge. A dragline was secured last week from the Graupmann Brothers company, at Adrian, and has been operating twenty-four hours a day speeding the immense fills. Flood lights illuminate the area under excavation, in order that the work might go on uninterrupted by dark-ness.
In making the fill east of the bridge it was found necessary to divert the channel of the river. The drag-line machine first corrected this by digging a new channel about 300 feet north of the old one. The lagoon, nearly rectangular in shape, will parallel the new highway. Rock river will flow into it from the east, make a curve to the north and flow under the bridge at a direct angle from the north.
Workmen are busy painting the railings of the bridge of a light green this week, and these will be put in place as soon as concrete supports have been finished. Four lamps approximately eight feet high will illuminate each side of the bridge. The large amount of filling required on the west approach of the new structure made it necessary to construct a concrete tunnel for the steam heat pipes which run under Main street. A manhole is being built flush with the street and bridge level so that access to the steam pipes will be available without tearing up the paving after it has once been laid.
Donations to the Rock County Historical Society can be sent to the Rock County Historical Society, 312 E. Main Street, Luverne, MN 56156.
Mann welcomes correspondence sent to mannmade@iw.net.