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In the summer, Atlantans flock to the nearest body of water to take refuge from the heat. Back in the day, that place was Lake Abana.
Beginning in the 1880s, Grant Park was home to a popular lake comprised of several mineral springs expanding over six acres of land. In 1886, a crowd of over 10,000 people came to watch performer Professor Leon tightrope-walk across Lake Abana, while his wife performed a sewing exhibition on a 50-foot-high platform.
In the 1960s, the lake was drained to build a parking lot for the neighboring Grant Park zoo.