Silver Lake

Date Modified: 06/03/2008 3:30 PM

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One of Rochester's most popular attractions, Silver Lake offers outdoor activities for all! During warmer months take a dip in the Silver Lake pool, let the kids play at the Children's Adventure Playground, rent a boat or bike and take a cruise around the lake. Check out what this park has to offer...

Silver Lake Geese
This beautiful man-made lake, set in the middle of Rochester, offers park facilities, a playground, skate park and much more.

However, the thing that truly differentiates this park from all the rest are the giant Canada geese that reside here year round. Home to 30,000 – 35,000 geese (at the fall peak season), Silver Lake is the world’s largest winter concentration of the giant Canada geese.

It all began in the 1920s when a few wild geese continued to return each autumn to Mayowood Lake, attracted by a captive flock of Canada geese retained by the Mayo family.

The geese’s adoption of Silver Lake as their home started in 1947, when a former Mayo Clinic patient donated a dozen birds from Nebraska at the lake. These geese enticed some of the rare giant Canada geese to migrate to Silver Lake.

Meanwhile, Rochester’s new power plant began using the lake for cooling water, resulting in an ice-free lake all winter. Since then, the geese arrive each September settle at Silver Lake for the long winter. In 1948, approximately 500 birds stayed in Rochester for the winter months.

In 1962, scientists identified the geese as Branta Canadensis Maxima. These birds (Giant Canada geese) were believed to be extinct until their reemergence in Rochester the winter of 1948.

In recent years, the community queried whether the geese were polluting the park and lake. The issue has spawned concern for the welfare of the flock nationally and internationally. The Rochester City Council is working with the City staff, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Olmsted County Health Department regarding geese in Rochester.