Lake Elkhorn

Lake Elkhorn is a 37-acre reservoir located in the Owen Brown area of Columbia, Maryland. It is Columbia's third and largest lake. Its main features are a small dam and a park with a picnic pavilion and a two-mile walking path around the lake. The path was built in 1982and is surrounded by a park and townhouses. The lake, which was built in 1974, is named for the Elkhorn branch of the Little Patuxent River. In 1969, Spiro Agnew proclaimed the arrival of the first Columbia based scientific firm, Hittman Associates that relocated for favorable lease rates from Howard Research and Development. Hittman in turn was contracted by the EPA using Wilde Lake as an example to recommend reuse of storm water runoff from all of Columbia's reservoir systems for residential drinking water to save on development costs.