[4][6] For hundreds of years before the Spanish colonization of Alta California displaced them in the late 18th century, Tongva people lived near the pond in a settlement called Alyeupkigna.

[8][needs context] Reid received the full Mexican land grant for Rancho Santa Anita in 1845, with included 'Baldwin Lake' and numerous other artesian sag ponds and springs within its 3 square leagues (13,319 acres).

It was dredged and deepened, perhaps by 12–15 feet (3.7–4.6 m), by Baldwin in the late 1880s, and a retaining wall capped by granite boulders was built around the shoreline.

Baldwin built the elaborate Coach Barn near the pond in 1879, and the Queen Anne style 'Baldwin's Belvedere' or Santa Anita Ranch Guest Cottage on a peninsula surrounded by the waters in 1885−1886.

The Arboretum began fundraising for an engineering study to determine the best approaches to restoring Baldwin Lake and Tule Pond.