Science Lake was built in 1926 in Allegany State Park as the new location for a science camp popularly called "The School in the Forest." Chauncey J. Hamlin, president of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences and a member of the original Allegany State Park Commission, initiated the science camp program because he recognized the area's potential as a public park and as a place for serious nature study. The original science camp operated from 1921 to 1926 for school-aged children. At Science Lake, the camp was formally known as the Allegany School of Natural History and operated from 1927 to 1940, serving students with the equivalent of a high school education and a serious interest in science. Students studied birds, flora, geology, reptiles, amphibians, and butterflies under the direction of University of Buffalo science faculty, and the results were published in scientific journals and by the New York State Museum in a series of handbooks. Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts used the camp through the 1940s and early 1950s, and the abandoned camp buildings were torn down in the early 1960s, leaving only several stone chimneys and foundation pilings. Science Lake, the first of three man-made lakes in Allegany State Park, was created when a small dam built across a deep ravine formed a lake about 20 feet deep and 3.6 acres in surface area.