Campaign underway to change lake name

St. Joseph County officials are being asked to support a drive seeking to change the name of a popular lake in Park and Lockport townships.

County commission members were asked during their executive committee meeting Tuesday to back proponents of a campaign to make “Fisher Lake” the legal name of what is alternatively known as Fishers Lake.

While the county has no authority to grant or deny the proposed name change, its support could bolster the efforts of a group taking the matter to the highest authority in the nation: the United States Board on Geographic Names.

Longtime lake residents Marian Cottingham-Schliesman and Katie Tubbs Sweeney explained the situation to commissioners. They said the lake’s official name is, in fact, Fishers Lake, yet the inconsistencies are countless.

County administrator Teresa Doehring acknowledged the county has no authority in the issue. Still, a letter in support of the petition would be drafted and ready for reading at the commission’s meeting next Tuesday. Cottingham-Schliesman said she and Tubbs Sweeney plan to attend Lockport Township and Park Township board meetings following next week’s county commission meeting.