What is now Cowan Lake State Park was once home to Miami and Shawnee Indians.  The Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 opened the land to settlement. The first settler for many years was considered to be William Smalley, who was in General Anthony Wayne’s army and had been a prisoner of the Lenape Indians and knew the area and the language. It has since been discovered the Smalley’s homestead was 50 miles outside Clinton County and the honor is now given to Morgan Van Meter who settled in 1798 or 1799.  Van Meter’s cabin became a tavern on College Township Road.  Cowan Lake was named after the dammed up Cowan Creek which was named for the area’s original surveyor, John Cowan. (Wikipedia, Park brochure)

As early as 1939 there was demand for recreational centers in southern Ohio and the Ohio State Department of Conservation decided to build lakes, however the war intervened.

 The Cowan Lake dam was authorized by the State Legislature in 1944 from the general fund for a lake to be built for recreational purposes,” reported in the Wilmington newspaper. Beginning in 1946, land acquisition began and construction was carried out by the old Division of Conservation and Natural Resources. “By 1950 the dam was completed impounding a 700 acre body of water that continues to offer quality recreational opportunities.” Ohio State Park’s Guidebook by Art Weber, 1997.

In 1950 when the dam was completed, the new Division of Parks was created and Cowan became a State Park.  On January 5, 1965, the Cincinnati Post Times Star reported that $100 million was allotted for Ohio State Parks with $1,972,000 allotted to Cowan Lake, the largest single allotment.  In 1968, the Cowan Lake State Park was dedicated and the Park office and campground opened after moving from the South to the North side of the lake, using the almost $2 million allotted.“

  It was often reported that the Cowan dam was for Miami River flood control under the Corps of Engineers and then later turned over to the DNR. This is not true and is based on the building of Caesar Creek Lake which was a flood control project, started in 1971 and completed in 1978, according to Weber.

Dave Rosekrans   February 4, 2019