Historically, Angelica Creek collected surface runoff and groundwater from a predominantly forested watershed and carried this flow to the Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River. During the Industrial Revolution, the Angelica Ice Company built an earthen dam to use the creek for ice production, creating Angelica Lake. Around 1915, the City of Reading purchased the lake for recreation, including boating, fishing, and swimming. In later years, increased siltation from upstream development worsened the condition of the lake and dam, and expensive dredging was needed to preserve aquatic habitat and lake depth for recreation. In 2001, Tropical Storm Alison dropped 8 inches of rain within a 24-hour period, causing the Angelica Lake Dam and Route 10 Bridge to fail and leading to the draining of Angelica Lake. To maintain traffic and commerce, the City of Reading and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation rebuilt the Route 10 Bridge under an emergency action plan, which left open the possibility of rebuilding the dam later. As the city considered whether reconstructing the dam was appropriate, Angelica Creek began winding through the empty lakebed and formed a meandering stream channel at its historic elevation. The Mayor and Director of Public Works envisioned transforming the site into an accessible urban community park that would offer passive and active recreation, serve as an outdoor classroom for environmental education, and preserve and protect the site in an environmentally and cost-effective way. Today, Angelica Creek Park is a natural outdoor classroom and recreational park, co-managed by Berks Nature and Alvernia University, where a restored stream system includes varied aquatic habitats such as riffles, pools, and a floodplain with wetland habitat that stores and filters stormflows, while scenic trails follow Angelica Creek, reach flowering meadows and wetlands, and connect with Alvernia University and the Schuylkill River Trail system.