Lake LaVerne is named for Mr. LaVerne W. Noyes, the inventor and businessman who donated much of the expertise and funding for the construction of the lake. Mr. Noyes was born in Genoa, N.Y. on January 7 1849, the son of Leonard and Jane Noyes. He and his family moved to Springville, Iowa in 1854. He attended ISU and received his B.S. in General Science in 1872. In addition to his interests in science and engineering, he was one of the inaugural members of the Crescent Literary Society he helped form in 1870. At ISU, he met Ida Elizabeth Smith (ISU 1874) of Charles City, and they were married in 1877. He went to work inventing haying tools that were manufactured by U.S. Wind Engine and Pump Co. of Batavia, Illinois. By the early 1880's he had formed a Chicago company to manufacture dictionary stands and farm equipment.

Through his work with U.S. Wind Engine, Mr. Noyes became acquainted with another inventor, Thomas Perry, who had developed revolutionary wind-power technology while working for this company. Since U.S. Wind Engine rejected Perry's ideas, in 1883 Noyes founded a Chicago company called Aermotor, Co., to manufacture highly efficient wind engines. These "windmills" were developed using meticulous experimentation, and were 87% more efficient than the common wooden wheels in use at the time. This business was very successful, and is still one of the major manufacturers of wind-driven pumps today.

In 1914, Mr. Noyes wanted to help beautify the ISU campus so donated the services of O.C. Simonds, a famous landscape gardener, to study the needs of the campus. Mr. Simonds recommended damming College Creek to make a lake. The lake was built in 1915, with Mr. Noyes paying the $10,000 price of construction. The lake is now a small impoundment that fills the old valley and bed of College Creek where it crossed into the campus from its source south of the city of Ames.