Kissena Lake was part of a watercourse called Kissena Creek, previously known as Mill Creek or Ireland Mill Creek, which ran east-to-west through what are now Kissena Park and Kissena Corridor Park. The creek began at a swamp in the modern Kew Gardens Hills and Pomonok areas south of Kissena Park. Past the swamp, the creek traveled east parallel to 72nd Avenue, then turning north in modern Fresh Meadows, traveling parallel to today's Utopia Parkway to the modern Kissena Park Golf Course just south of Flushing Cemetery. The creek then turned west through the modern Kissena Park, Kissena Corridor Park, and Queens Botanical Garden sites before meeting Flushing Creek at what is now the Fountain of Planets / Pool of Industry in Flushing Meadows. The system included several lakes, including Kissena Lake, as well as a pond in Fresh Meadows now occupied by the Utopia Playground. The system of waterways was mostly a wetland area.