Dallas Area Information

Did you know? On May 24, 1910, shortly after construction of White Rock dam commenced, Halley's Comet became visible in the sky over Dallas.

1841: John Neely Bryan establishes a trading post on the Trinity River, six miles west of White Rock Creek.

1847: Some men belonging to White Rock area families volunteer for service in the Mexican War, serving under Col. Jack Hays.

1848: Cox Cemetery established on what is now west side of White Rock Lake. First burial is infant daughter of Solomon and Lydia Dixon, for whom Dixon Branch is named.

1891: Jacob Buhrer establishes a dairy on land that is mostly now under water, near present-day dam and spillway.

Through 1909: Area near present-day lake, surrounded by farms and ranches, takes on a rural character. Three small rural communities - Fisher (a.k.a. Calhoun), Reinhardt, and Little Egypt - established nearby.

1909-1910: A severe drought prompts city commissioners to consider building a reservoir on White Rock Creek.

January 11, 1910: As the drought continues, city commissioners formally adopt plan for White Rock reservoir.

January 16, 1910: First advertisements for bids to build a dam and spillway are published in Dallas, Houston, and St. Louis newspapers.

March 7, 1910: Fred A. Jones Company of Dallas awarded contract to build dam and spillway on White Rock Creek.

November 15, 1910: Seven workmen injured in derrick accident at White Rock dam construction site.

1911: In his "City Plan for Dallas," urban planner George E. Kessler recommends that all city land around White Rock reservoir "be retained in public hands and used for park purposes."

September 1, 1911: Daily Dallas Times Herald reports that White Rock Dam is completed (except for upstream guard of the spillway and sluiceway) and that the reservoir already contains 800,000,000 gallons of water.

October 7, 1911: Beneath a tent erected beside the dam, Fred A. Jones hosts a luncheon for 143 civic leaders to celebrate completion of the work.

1913: Dallas' first chlorinated water dispensed by White Rock pump station.

1914: White Rock Lake is completely full for the first time. City establishes a nursery on land beside lake "to supply trees and shrubs for the park system."

1917-1919: During Lawther's term of office, prisoners from Dallas city jail are used to build a gravel road around White Rock Lake.

1918: Kessler's second plan repeats his previous recommendation regarding land around White Rock Lake.

1921: Work begins on new filtration plant.

1923: Road encircling lake is named Lawther Drive, in honor of former mayor; new filtration plant, built at cost of $381,000 put into operation.

October 4, 1924: Work begins on new reservoir for Dallas, at Garza in neighboring Denton County.

October 9, 1925: Opening exercises of the new Texas & Pacific Clubhouse are held at Roxana Point (now called Tee Pee Hill).

Labor Day, 1926: First sailboat race held on White Rock Lake. Four boats entered but only one finished.

August 1928: City Water Commissioner, Col. S. E. Moss, ignites controversy when he proposes a "Coney Island" style amusement park for White Rock Lake.

April 1929: In a run-off election, "Hot Dog" candidate J. Waddy Tate, an outspoken advocate of providing public recreational facilities at White Rock Lake, is elected mayor of Dallas.

1929: Lake Dallas (now Lake Lewisville) completed. City stops using White Rock Lake for water supply.

1930: City Park Board establishes a Fish Hatchery at White Rock Lake, at a cost of $23,700.

January 7, 1930: Park Board approves plans for the development of White Rock Lake as a public park, complete with sand bathing beach and a bathhouse on the eastern shore of the lake, as well as a municipal boathouse for speedboats on western shore.

February 24, 1930: Sheriff Hal Hood leads deputies on a raid on a house near White Rock Lake, where "moonshiners" operated a 500-gallon whiskey still.

Spring 1930: In editorials and an editorial cartoon, The Dallas Morning News opposes any "Coney Island" style amusements for White Rock Lake Park.

April 26, 1930: Responding to a letter from a concerned citizen, Park Board Member Hugh January publicly assures the public that the board does not plan to erect "Coney Island" style amusements at White Rock Lake, stating that only a boathouse, a beach and bathhouse, and a golf course are to be built.

June 1, 1930: 17,000 people line the shore of White Rock Lake to watch speedboat races.

June 2, 1930: The Dallas Morning News reports that six picnic areas and playgrounds at White Rock Lake Park will soon be open to the public.

July 4, 1930: The Daily Dallas Time Herald reports that F. W. Day has been awarded a contract for a motorboat sightseeing concession at White Rock Lake. Half-hour rides in the ten-passenger clippers will cost 50 cents per person, with the city receiving 20 percent of Day's revenues.

July 13, 1930: The Daily Dallas Times Herald sponsors a Dally Boat Club regatta.

1931: Dallas Sailing Club formally chartered.

April 9, 1932: J. M. Martin's Silver Spray reportedly becomes first snipe boat launched at White Rock Lake (another source credits Bill Crosby, who reportedly sailed a snipe on the lake as early as 1930).

October 2, 1932: Dallas Sailing Club hosts first annual Texas Championship Regatta at White Rock Lake. Meredith Ellis of Fort Worth won the men's championship and Helen Harris of Dallas won the women's competition.

December 7, 1933: Dallas Sailing Club's clubhouse on eastern shore, located in a former restaurant, burns to the ground following a going-away party for Commodore Hub Isaacks.

1935: City discontinues use of the "Pea Patch," a prison farm located on western shore of lake, where non-violent offenders worked off fines at a rate of $1 per day by picking up litter along lake shore and cutting weeds. White Rock Lake Fish Hatchery conveyed to Texas Game, Fish and Oyster Commission in exchange for fish hatchery at Fair Park. An automobile, fitted with an "electrolytic carburetor," invented by Charles H. Garrett and his father, Henry "Dad" Garrett, is filmed by Pathé News being fueled with water from White Rock Lake.

August 8, 1935: The Civilian Conservation Corps establishes a camp, designated SP-55-TX, at Winfrey Point. A week later the first recruits arrive to form Company 2896. Over the next seven years, some 3,000 CCC workers plant trees and build a variety of permanent improvements around the lake including the overlook and picnic pavilion at Flag Pole Hill and recreation buildings at Winfrey Point, Big Thicket and Sunset Bay.

1936: City Park Board recovers use of White Rock Lake Fish Hatchery from State in exchange for $1,454 and "accumulated salvage pipe for state use in constructing a new hatchery at Lake Dallas."

September 15, 1937: First major desilting of White Rock Lake commences using a $31,973 dredge named the "Joe E. Lawther." Over the next three and a half years in excess of 500,000 tons of sediment will be removed and 90 acres of land reclaimed.

November 17, 1937: After springing leaks, the "Joe E. Lawther" dredge sinks in six feet of water at Dixon's Branch.

1938: For $69,000, oil magnate H. L. Hunt purchases Mount Vernon, an estate on the lake's western shore that resembles George Washington's Virginia home.

April 1938: After a Galveston diver refloats the "Joe E. Lawther," dredging of the lake resumes.

1939: Corinthian Sailing Club formally chartered.

1939: Geophysicist Everett L. DeGolyer builds Rancho Encinal on lake's eastern shore, site of today's Dallas Arboretum.

July 1939: City of Dallas orders demolition of eleven White Rock Lake private fishing shacks.

1940: Use of prisoners to work off fines by cleaning up lake shore temporarily re-instituted.

January 1940: White Rock Lake freezes over for the first time.

1941: First dredging of lake comes to an end.

March 1941: Park Director L. B. Houston announces plans to stock city parks with gray squirrels because "this variety becomes tame readily and will be of more benefit from the recreational angle than the red squirrels now found in some parks."

January 15, 1942: Civilian Conservation Corps Co. 2896 ceases operations at White Rock Lake Park.

November 16, 1944 - October 1945: Approximately 300 German P.O.W.s imprisoned at former C.C.C. and Army camp. Most volunteer to work at Fair Park Centennial Building, repairing army supplies.

1946: The Bonnie Barge, a floating dance hall, begins operating on the lake.

April 14, 1946: The Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Sailing Club will be enlarging its clubhouse.

June 17, 1946: On a sweltering summer day, White Rock Bathing Beach is overwhelmed by some 10,000 patrons.

1946-1947: Faced with a student housing shortage, SMU uses the old barracks buildings at the former CCC-POW camp site as temporary housing for about 250 of its students, many of who are veterans attending classes on the G.I. Bill.

1947: A 75 lb. catfish, caught inside a sunken boat, is donated to the Dallas Aquarium.
City of Dallas begins demolishing, relocating, or selling surplus buildings at old CCC-POW campsite.

January 22, 1951: The Dallas Morning News reports that 100 new picnic tables and benches have been placed in White Rock Lake Park. The paper also noted that the bathing beach was being enlarged and that 15 acres of wooded land were being cleared "to make the space available to the public."

March 1951: Former German P.O.W. at Camp White Rock Lake writes letter to The Dallas Morning News, expressing desire to emigrate to Texas and seeking a sponsor.

1951: The last remaining CCC-POW barracks building is damaged by a dynamite blast. Police suspect college pranksters. Shortly afterward, the building is demolished by the Park Dept.

April 1952: En route to Indiana from Fort Hood, hundreds of U.S. Army soldiers bivouac at White Rock Lake for several days.

September 1, 1952: White Rock Bathing Beach is open for the last time. When a drought forces the City of Dallas to use the lake as a water supply, swimming is temporarily banned.

1953: The ghostly "Lady of the Lake" legend included in Frank X. Tolbert's book Neiman Marcus, Texas.

1953-1954: During the drought, swimming in White Rock Lake continues to be banned. The ban eventually becomes permanent.

1955-1956: Lake is dredged for second time. Over 15,000 cubic yards of sediment removed.

1958: City passes ordinance forbidding boats with engines larger than 10.5 horsepower on the lake. Bonnie Barge stops operating.

About 1960: White Rock Boat Club formed.

1964: White Rock pump station closes.

1965: Causeway built, connecting Mockingbird Lane and Peavy Road, on lake's northern shore.

1971: First White Rock Marathon held.

1974: Lake dredged for third time.

1976: Dallas Arboretum & Botanical Garden, at former DeGolyer Estate, is opened.

1978: Improvements made to White Rock dam.

1979: Park Board divides Lawther Drive into four sections, making it impossible to drive around lake in one continuous direction.

August 1981: Old Bath House converted into Bath House Cultural Center.

1989: White Rock pump station renovated.

1990: Park Board adopts master plan for White Rock Lake Park improvements.

1994: Series of articles in Dallas Morning News alert public to serious sedimentation problem at White Rock Lake.

1996: Dredging of lake begins. For The Love of the Lake, a grass-roots activist organization is formed. This website, "Scenic White Rock Lake," goes online.

1998: Dredging completed; White Rock Sailing Club disbanded.

June 8, 2001: Off-leash dog park opens at Mockingbird Point.

Sept. 24, 2001: DART's White Rock station opens on site of old Knights of Columbus hall.

April 17, 2004: Statue honoring CCC enrollees, funded by For The Love Of The Lake, dedicated at Sunset Bay. Several former enrollees attend event.

September 18, 2004: White Rock Lake Museum opens in Bath House Cultural Center.