This article is about the lake in California. For the lake in British Columbia, see Cunningham Lake. For the lake in the Bahamas, see Lake Cunningham (Bahamas).
The Lake Cunningham–Eastridge Mall area was one of Santa Clara Valley's three permanent wetland complexes called "lagunas". The area was called Laguna Socayre (or Secayre) during the initial Euro-American settlement (1769–1850), and was part of the Rancho Yerba Buena or Rancho Socayre land grant of 1833. Laguna Socayre covered a much larger area than Lake Cunningham Park does now.[1]
Due to intense urbanization in the surrounding hill areas, the storm water that historically exited the canyons and percolated through the gravel below ground was channeled into pipes below the streets to Thompson Creek and Lake Cunningham. This has led to an increase in runoff during the winter storms.[2]
The lake and park are named after James Farnham Cunningham who owned the land before the city acquired it for flood control.[3]
