Lake Nokomis is one of several lakes in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and part of the city's Chain of Lakes. In 1819, Captain George Gooding named it Lake Amelia in honor of his daughter. In 1910 it was renamed after Nokomis, the fictional grandmother of Hiawatha. It is located in the southern part of the city, west of the Mississippi River and south of Lake Hiawatha. The lake is oval in shape, with a long axis running southwest to northeast. Two pathways circle the lake, a pedestrian trail and a bicycle trail. Because the lower part of the lake is crossed by Cedar Avenue running north–south, the impression from the ground is that the lake is shaped like an L. The lake has an area of .
History
left|thumb|201x201px|Bathing beach at Lake Nokomis 1924
When purchased in 1907 by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the lake was very shallow, only deep in the deepest spot. Much of it was actually marshland or slough—a drainage area for the neighborhood. It was deepened by dredging to produce the current lake. Within years of its development, Lake Nokomis surpassed Bde Maka Ska as the most popular swimming beach on Minneapolis city lakes; in 1924 attendance at the Lake Nokomis bathhouse was nearly triple the attendance at the Bde Maka Ska bath house.
In 1940, Dr. Chris Lambertsen performed about 12 Scuba dives in his Lambertsen Amphibious Respiratory Unit (LARU) prototype in Lake Nokomis. The LARU was the first rebreather designed and built in the United States and these dives are the first closed-circuit oxygen dives in U.S. history. Some fish consumption guideline restrictions have been placed on the lake's walleye and white sucker due to mercury contamination.