Cunningham Lake - Santa Clara County, California

Visited on 3/31/2019 on a weekend camping trip to the South Bay Area where we camped at Coyote Lake in the foothills of Gilroy, California.  Lake Cunningham is an artificial lake in Lake Cunningham Park, in East San Jose, California, near the Eastridge Mall and Eastridge Transit Center.  It is located on Capitol Expressway and stands next to Reid-Hillview Airport. The Lake Cunningham Skate Park and Raging Waters theme park are also in Lake Cunningham Park.  This 55 acre lake is at an elevation of 10 feet above sea level.

The Lake Cunningham – Eastridge Mall area was one of Santa Clara Valley's three permanent wetland complex called "lagunas". The area was called Laguna Secayre during the initial Euro-American settlement (1769–1850). Laguna Secayre covered a much larger area than Lake Cunningham Park does now.

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.

The lake and park are named after James F. Cunningham who owned the land before the city acquired it for flooding control.