photo by: Sabatini Architects

A rendering of the planned visitors center at Clinton State Park is shown.

Construction work began Monday on a $2.5 million visitors center at Clinton State Park, which leaders hope will spur a new round of interest in the 7,000-acre lake just west of Lawrence.

After all, it is well known that Lawrence residents love open space, but what is less known among the population is that Clinton Lake has more than 20 square-miles of public land that surrounds the lake itself, with much of it nature intense.

“We sure hope it raises the visibility,” Erika Devore, executive director of the Kansas Recreation and Park Association, told the Journal-World prior to a groundbreaking event on Monday. “Many people don’t know what is out here. It is a treasure Lawrence has that more people need to know about.”

Leaders are betting that a bigger building and greater collaboration can help increase the public’s awareness.

The new building, at 6,400 square feet, will be more than four times larger than the current park office building that is located near the gate where motorists purchase their pass to enter the park. The new visitors center will be located in a clearing several hundred feet east of that existing building. It will include an expansive space for exhibits that likely will include information about the history of the lake and also highlight fun conservation projects like the area work done with Monarch butterflies or the bee hive that staff members tend at the state park.

The center is expected to become a frequent place for school field trips, but also will include a large meeting room — including a catering kitchen — that can accommodate approximately 70 people. That space will be available for community events, which will be another way to get residents out to the state park, said Linda Lanterman, the director of state parks for the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks.

Lanterman has been working on the idea for a new visitors center at Clinton Lake since 2019. She said the idea has been on her mind for years, in part because she’s been looking for ways to capitalize on Clinton Lake’s unique location, which is much closer to a major population center than many lakes in Kansas.

“I knew this was an urban hub, and I knew this state park is not yet at its potential,” Lanterman said on Monday.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Linda Lanterman, director of state parks for the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks, talks with an attendee of a groundbreaking ceremony on March 3, 2025.

In addition to the new building, a new dose of collaboration also may help the effort. The building is being developed by the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, which manages all the state parks in Kansas. But in addition to having office space for KDWP employees, the building also will become the new headquarters for the Kansas Recreation and Park Association. That three-person staff will move from its existing Lawrence offices on Clinton Parkway, once the new visitors center is complete. The association represents the parks and recreation departments of cities and counties throughout Kansas. Devore said the association plans to use the new center as its primary location for continuing education classes, which means parks and recreation leaders from across the state would be coming to the center.

Lanterman said KDWP hopes to tap into the expertise of those local parks and recreation officials to offer more programs to the public. The state park has some park-like amenities — including trails and disc golf courses — but by being in closer contact with city and county officials that offer their own local programs, the state may discover new opportunities for its state parks.

“We think they can helps us do some programming that we maybe don’t have the capacity to do,” Lanterman said.

Work on the new visitors center is expected to be completed in six to eight months, Brett Blackburn, chief engineer for KDWP, told the Journal-World. The project is one of several that is being funded by a $10 million grant that KDWP received from the Kansas Department of Commerce. The grant — which also funded private sector projects including the Kansas Cosmosphere, Azura Amphitheater and even a Dodge City distillery — was designed to fund unique pieces of tourism infrastructure in the state.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

The new visitors center for Clinton State Park will be several hundred feet east of the existing park office.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Among the projects KDWP will use the SPRINT grant money for will be two other new visitors centers, one at Kanopolis State Park in central Kansas and another at Lehigh-Portland State Park in southeast Kansas.

In total, about a dozen full-time employees will be housed out of the Clinton State Park center, with the number growing as seasonal employees work during the summer camping season, Lanterman said. The office will serve as a place where people can buy entrance permits for the state park, and also will be a location for hunting and fishing licenses, boat registration and other such state business.

“This is going to give some outdoor recreation for everyone, and it certainly will be a hub for the Lawrence area,” said Lanterman, who will count the Lawrence project among the last of her career at KDWP. Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony came one day before her retirement from KDWP, where she had worked for more than 30 years.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

A sign and map for Clinton State Park is shown on March 3, 2025.