Tucked away on the southeast side of campus is a quiet, placid pond filled with bass, bluegill, carp and turtles.
The pond is called Eckie’s Pond, and is located near the Longest Student Health Center.
For Hunter Ballard, a sophomore marketing major from Kosciusko, the pond is a place he visits almost every day.
“It is a relaxing place. College is a little bit stressful, so it is fun to go and look at the turtles and the fish,” Ballard said. “It is very relaxing and a very pretty place around sunset. It is a very quiet place on campus.”
Eckie’s pond Ballard and other students enjoy today has been on this university for over 100 years. According to Tim Muzzi, the director for planning, design and construction, it is the oldest pond on campus.
“The pond is one of the oldest structures on campus; this includes the concrete silo on the southwest corner of the pond,” Muzzi said. “Eckie’s Pond dates back to 1893 and was constructed to impound runoff water to irrigate gardens for growing vegetables for home use. This was the first known research project of its kind under taken on a Land Grant University.”
The oldest pond on campus was threatened at one point as the levee leaked water, and in an effort to preserve the natural and historical landmark, MSU had a civil engineer take a look.
“It was observed that the existing levee was leaking water. Upon immediate investigation by a local civil engineer, it was determined that the root structure of the existing trees, on the levee, had undermined the existing levee,” Muzzi said. “It should be noted here that the problem was discovered in plenty of time and at no time was there a concerned about an immediate failure of the levee. The project cost less than our budgeted cost of $350,000.”
The project reinforced the levee and a concrete band was added.
The construction finished this summer, and according to Muzzi, did not suffer any major setbacks aside from the typical construction issues of working on something outdoors. The pond did have to go through a process called “seining” to relocate the fish which inhabited it.
According to lineandsight.com, the process of seining is where people take a big net and herd the fish in an effort to remove them in a quicker time frame. The fish were relocated and put back in the pond after construction.
“There are many ponds on campus, but access is limited due to them being in research areas,” Muzzi said. “I think Mississippi State not being in an urban environment has many natural places on campus for one to find and explore.”
The pond was listed in the annual master plans for campus development, Muzzi said the master plan was a living document that changes each year. Currently there are a few more projects which will begin soon.
“Our master plan is constantly updated, in that it is a living, breathing document. The master plan includes design guidelines for campus,” Muzzi said. “These guidelines preserve our historical character and assures unity in the architectural language of the campus.”