Wilde Lake, Columbia, Maryland

Wilde Lake is a man-made drainage reservoir dug in 1966 and also the name of the surrounding neighborhood, or "village", located in Columbia, Maryland, just north and west of the Columbia Town Center. The village was the first portion of the "New Town" of Columbia to be built during the late 1960s, James W. Rouse and Frazar B. Wilde formally opened the neighborhood on 21 June 1967. The lake and village are named for Frazar B. Wilde, a past chairman of the board of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company and former employer of James Rouse. In 1963, the company agreed to fund the secret land purchases and, in return, acquired an equity participation. This arrangement was subsequently formalized by the creation of The Howard Research and Development Corporation, the joint venture established to develop Columbia.

Wilde Lake

Wilde Lake collects storm water runoff from 1140 acres, with a maximum capacity of 48,200,000 gallons. Rouse executive Mort Hoppenfeld designed the 27-foot tall, 200-foot wide dam across the Patuxent River branch which flooded the fields between the historic stone buildings of Oakland Manor and the pre-colonial Old Oakland manor. The dam project was budgeted at $500,000 for construction, but came in at $900,000 by the time of construction. A rapid change in design by engineer George Levine reduced the cost to $250,000 In 1969, Spiro Agnew proclaimed the arrival of the first Columbia-based scientific firm, Hittman Associates, who relocated for favorable lease rates from Howard Research and Development. Hittman in turn was contracted by the EPA, recommending Wilde Lake reuse storm water runoff from the reservoir for Columbia resident's drinking water to save on development costs.