Why Is An 80-Million Gallon Cistern Buried Underneath Eden Park’s Mirror Lake?

In 1901, Cincinnati City Engineer Louis Gustave Frederick Bouscaren appeared before the Water Works Board with a rather expensive request. Bouscaren asked the Board to approve a $500,000 brick cover for the Eden Park reservoir. That immense artificial lake, covering 13 acres and more than 30 feet deep, held 100 million gallons of water, divided into two basins. Exposed to sunlight, the reservoir…