Municipal Archives

White Rock Lake General Subject Files, 1921-1991

​Collection 1995-022

Overview

Repository
Office of the City Secretary
Dallas Municipal Archives
1500 Marilla Street, 5D South
Dallas, Texas 75201
CreatorPark and Recreation Department
TitleWhite Rock Lake General Subject Files
Dates1921-1991
Quantity 2 linear feet
Addition 1 -  2.7 linear feet
AbstractCorrespondence, memoranda, architectural plans and drawings, and photographic prints documenting the creation and development of White Rock Lake and White Rock Lake Park, Dallas, Texas.
Identification1995-022
LanguageRecords are in English

Scope and Content

Correspondence, memoranda, architectural plans and drawings, and photographic prints documenting the creation and development of White Rock Lake and White Rock Lake Park, Dallas, Texas.

White Rock Lake is a 1015-acre urban lake owned by the City of Dallas. Its main entrance is located at 8300 East Lawther Drive. and includes a variety of outdoor activities, including a 9.33-mile hike and bike trail, an Audubon Society-designated bird-watching area and wetlands site, picnic areas, and three rental facilities (Winfrey Point, the Dreyfuss Club, and Big Thicket).  The lake also includes fishing piers, sailing facilities (Corinthian Sailing Club), and a meeting and event facility, the White Rock Bath House Cultural Center, located at 521 E. Lawther Drive.

The lake is fed by nine tributaries, including White Rock Creek, and was created as a reservoir for the City of Dallas.  The City of Dallas purchased the land for White Rock Lake between 1907 and 1910; construction began in the spring of 1910 and was completed in the fall of 1911.  Supervision of the parkland of White Rock Lake was transferred from Dallas Water Utilities to the Dallas Park Board in 1929 when White Rock Lake Park was created.

Organization

The collection is arranged both by subject matter and chronology.  It contains oversized materials.

Access

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

Citation

White Rock Lake General Subject Files, 1921-1991 (Box <x>, Folder <y>), Dallas Municipal Archives

Related Materials

Collection 1995-021—White Rock Lake - Dredging, 1938
Collection 1995-044—White Rock Lake Improvements, 1956-1982
Collection 2008-002—Earl Hart Family - White Rock Lake

Index Terms

Dallas -- Texas -- History
Parks -- Texas -- History
Park facilities -- Texas -- History
Texas -- History
Texas -- Description and travel

Container List

Box Folder Title, Date
1
1
Letter, White Rock Lake to become a park, May 26, 1921
2General Subject File "A-C"
3
General Subject File "D"
 4General Subject File "E-F"
 5General Subject File "M-P"
 6General Subject File "R-W"
 7Amusement privileges, 1941
 8Angler's Club
 9Accidents, 1940-1942
 10Drowning Martha Jane Francisco - Drowned White Rock Beach, July 23, 1950
 11Drowning William. A. King - Heart Attack at White Rock Beach
 12Drowning Frank DeRosa (US Military Service) Accident - White Rock
 13Buckner Boulevard
 14Boat Houses - Municipal Boat Houses
 15Boat Repair Shop
21Boat Houses - Private, 1942-1953
 2Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp, 1941-1948
 3Bank Sloping and Guard Rails (CCC)
4Big Thicket Inn (CCC)
 5Columbian Club
 6Camp Sites No. 2 to 29 - Removal from White Rock, 1940
 7Camp Sites No. 30 to 59A - Removal from White Rock, 1940
31Camp Sites No. 60 to 108 - Removal from White Rock, 1940
2Camping Privileges - White Rock
 3City Farm - White Rock, Prison Labor
 4Prison Labor, 1943-1947
 5Camps - General - White Rock
 6Development and Improvement, 1932-1936
 7Doran Point Concession
 8Dallas Power and Light (White Rock) and Bachman Lake
 9White Rock Dreyfuss Camp
41White Rock Fish Hatchery Constructed, 1930
 2Fish Hatchery, 1931-1949
 3Fireworks
 4Garden Clubs
 5Gasoline use, 1936-1942
 6Golf Course, 1926-1939
 7Investigations - removal of fish, 1938
 8Motor Boats, 1938-43
 9Motor Boats, 1939-1948
 10White Rock Nature Trail, 1937-1940
 11News Boys Club, Kiwanis Club, 1929-1936
 12Parking Areas
51White Rock Petition - Removal Rough Fish, 1951
 2White Rock Paving Job - N. P. Turner
 3Piers, 1935
 4Sailing Club (White Rock), includes Dining Hall, 1930-1943
 5Soil Conservation, 1936-1946
 6Spur Track, 1939-1940
 7T and P Club
 8Winfrey Point
9Fifth Ferrying Command White Rock - Winfrey Point Fire Building, 1941-1944
10Study for White Rock Lake, Texas Technical College, 1959

11Drainage


Container List for Addition 1

Box
 Folder
 Title, Date
6 1 Bachman Lake, 1953

 2 Bath House 1, correspondence, reports, Dallas Obedience School rental, 1971-1977 [OS]

 3 Bath House 2, correspondence, reports, landscape plans, sidewalk improvements, 1978-1984 [OS]

 4 Big Thicket clubhouse rental, 1955-1967

 5 Boathouse concessions bids, undated

 6 Boathouse forms, 1951-1958

 7 Boathouse removal, 1953

 8 Boathouses 1, 1940-1949

 9 Boathouses 2, 1940-1949

 10 Boathouses 3, 1950-1959
  11 Boathouses 4, 1950-1959
  12 Buildings rentals, 1952-1959
  13 Citizens programs, correspondence, reports, by-laws, Charter of Dallas Zoological Society, 1955-1976
7 1 Club buildings, 1947-1955
  2 Coca-Cola machines, 1948-1958
 
 3 Concerts, 1974
  4 Correspondence 1, 1932 [OS]
  5 Correspondence 2, 1946-1947
  6 Correspondence 3, 1949-1952
  7 Correspondence 4, 1955-1959
 
 8 Correspondence 5, 1961-1964
  9 Correspondence 6, 1965

 10 Correspondence 7, 1968
  11 Correspondence 8, 1969-1970

 12 Correspondence 9, 1971-1974
8
 1 Correspondence 10, 1975
  2 Correspondence 11, 1975-1977
  3 Correspondence 12, 1978
  4 Correspondence 13, 1979

 5 Correspondence 14, 1980
  6 Correspondence 15, 1981
 
 7 Correspondence 16, 1982
  8 Correspondence 17, 1983-1984
 9
 Correspondence 18, 1985-1990
 
 10 Correspondence 19, 1991
9 1 Correspondence 20, 1968-1972
[Races, walks, and events]
 
 2 Correspondence 21, 1973-1974
[Races, walks, and events]
 
 3 Correspondence 22, 1975
[Races, walks, and events]
 
 4 Correspondence 23, 1976
[Races, walks, and events]
 
 5 Correspondence 24, 1977
[Races, walks, and events]
 
 6 Dallas Sailing Club, 1946-1956
 
 7 Dirt removal, 1955-1957
  8 Doran Point correspondence, leases, 1956-1975
  9 Dredging, 1970-1975
  10 Easements (sewer), 1973-1974
  11 Employment applications, 1952-1958
  12 Fish hatchery map, 1955 [OS]
 
 13 Fish management, 1968-1980
10 1 Flagpole Hill, 1967
  2 Hay baling correspondence, receipts, 1947-1954
  3 HL Hunt, 1972-1973
  4 Huvelle Building reservations, 1942-1954
  5 Improvements 1, [Goals for White Rock Lake, streets, sewer lines, curbs, landscaping], 1968-1970
  6 Improvements 2, [soil boring, dredging, water easement map], 1971-1974 [OS]
 
 7 Improvements 3, [storm drainage map, roadside museum, ramps, spillway, beautification], 1975 [OS]
 
 8 Improvements 4, undated
  9 Johnny Williams boat contracts, 1951-1958
  10 Lake cleanup, 1991
  11 Lake Lavon, 1982
  12 Maps and plans including East White Rock Area, Skillman/Walling neighborhood, White Rock Lake, 1954, 1964 [OS]
 
 13 Mooring permits, 1981-1988
  14 Police reports 1, 1966-1972
  15 Police reports 2, 1972
11 1 Police reports 3, 1973
 
 2 Police reports 4, 1974
​
3​Prison escape records, 1946-1953​
  4 Prisoners' work reports, 1947-1953
  5 Recreational agreements, 1956
  6 Reports, 1955-1991
[Lists of trees and flowers, White Rock Lake Boat Ramp Project report, lists of Dallas clubs, equestrian services report, White Rock Lake District Worker-Year Study, Proposed Circulation Plan, A Study for Whiterock Lake Park [sic] 1979, 1991, undated
  7 Skis and surfboards, 1951-1953
  8 Soil tests, 1968-1970
 
 9 Town Lake Environmental Awareness Study, 1973
 
 10 Trails 1, 1956
  11 Trails 2, 1967-1974, undated
  12 Trails 3, 1977-1982
​
13​​Trees, 1977
12 1 Transfers, 1946-1947
  2 Trinity River Green Belt and Elm Fork, Southwest Modler's Association Plan for Trinity River Radio Control Flying Site, 1976-1979
  3 Trinity River Map [hand-drawn], undated
  4 Water levels, 1948-1964
  5 White Rock Boat Club, Inc. Financial Statements, 1964-1965
  6 White Rock Lake dam correspondence, reports, 1976-1978
 
 7 Winfrey Point - Flagpole Hill footing plan, pole location, correspondence, 1966-1971 [OS]

 

Drawer
Folder
Oversized items
B9
1
Bath House swimming area annotated with accident information, File 708, undated
Camp House elevations, pencil on waxed vellum, undated
Camp House frame house drawing, undated
Campsite plan, waxed vellum, undated
Dallas news boys summer recreation building plans, undated
Dallas Sailing Club clubhouse, Sheet 2, Fred D Deere, undated
Dallas Sailing Club clubhouse, Sheet 3, Fred D Deere, undated
Dallas Sailing Club clubhouse, Sheet 4, Fred D Deere, undated
Data relative to boat houses and Camp cottages, 1/29/1931
Motorboat stalls pencil drawing, undated
POW Camp  map showing conduits to be removed and added, undated
Proposed improvement - Camp 78, undated
Proposed railway connections to White Rock Lake Pump House spur, 7/27/1939
Sketch showing limits of reservation for military recreation building, 9/23/1942
The Floating Island recreation boat suggestive drawing by Higgins Industries, undated
White Rock Creek Reservoir map of drainage area, 9/1936
White Rock Creek Reservoir pump station elevation, Drawing D-31, 5/1910
White Rock Lake proposed boat house location, undated
White Rock Lake soil conservation service, 5/1935
White Rock Sailing Club Pier proposed improvements, 3/11/1941
Winfrey Point proposed changes in keepers quarters, 4/19/1941
​E14
​2
​Planting plan for Bath House parking area, undated
Planting plan, pencil on vellum, undated
Preliminary layout of water line between park entrance and  Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp, 3/25/1940
Proposed 60KV transmission system, right-of-way map, Sheet 3, 12/1/1930
Tracing from transmission line map, 10/14/1930
White Rock Beach area annotated with accident information on Martha Jane Francisco drowning, 1950