Carson Park, often called "the island," is actually a 134 acre peninsula nearly surrounded by Half Moon Lake, an oxbow lake created when a meander of the Chippewa River was cut off during glacial times. Land in the center of the lake was set aside for a park as early as the 1860's, and a hospital for smallpox sufferers was built there, but after it burned in 1878 people avoided the area. During the lumbering era from 1860 to 1910, the Daniel Shaw Sawmill Company owned the land, while Eau Claire, often called "Sawdust City," used the lake as part of its lumber economy. Although proposals called for a park, resort, or race track, the land remained largely idle for years, serving mainly as a picnic destination for boaters. In 1914 heirs of lumberman William Carson bought the land within Half Moon Lake from Shaw and donated it to the city of Eau Claire on the condition that it be used only as a public park and never renamed. The park opened in 1915 with a wooden bridge from West Grand Avenue. During the 1930's, Works Progress Administration laborers created the east shore causeway, shortened the bridge, added paths, steps, and retaining walls, leveled land for athletic fields, playgrounds, and picnic areas, and built a stone grandstand for the baseball stadium. In the late 1990's, the baseball facility was completely renovated while retaining its 1930's architecture and adding a Henry Aaron Memorial Plaza with a bronze bust honoring his 1952 professional debut with the Northern League Eau Claire Bears. Other features grew over time: in 1934 Kiwanis members built a replica of an 1880's logging camp, which they renovated and relocated beside the Chippewa Valley Museum in 1983 before donating it to the city; in 1994 an Interpretive Center with logging exhibits and artifacts was added. The nearby Chippewa Valley Museum opened in 1974 to preserve and interpret regional history, expanded in 2003, and also manages several historic sites. Since 1977 the Chippewa Valley Railroad Association has operated a miniature train along the island's south bank. Carson Park has developed into a major center for softball, football, horseshoe pitching, tennis, fishing, trails, gardens, playgrounds, festivals, walks, runs, picnics, reunions, graduations, and weddings, making it a central recreational and cultural place in Eau Claire.