White Rock Lake
Encyclopedia
White Rock Lake is a reservoir
located in east
Dallas, Texas
(United States). The lake was formed by damming White Rock Creek
, which today widens into the lake before continuing south out of the spillway and emptying into the Trinity River
. The lake covers 1,254 acre
s (5.1 km²) in the east Dallas
community.
The city of Dallas, in a long range plan for water, forced the Daniel family to sell their land to build White Rock Lake. According to family legend, for two days and nights the Daniel family camped around the lake before water would be released into the area. All that is left of the Daniel and Cox farms is the hold "Daniel-Cox family cemetery." The Daniel family fell upon hard times and when the cemetery was renovated, the Cox family contributed funds to renovate the cemetery so the current sign reads "Cox Cemetery".
resident John H. Williams, Sr. from 1946 to 1956.
Although originally permitted, swimming was banned in September 1952. A ban on motorized boats followed in 1958.
The lake is surrounded by White Rock Lake Park, which features a 9.33 mile (15 km) trail for hiking, running and bicycling
, the Bath House Cultural Center
and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
. There are several fishing
piers and sailing
is permitted.
The Bath House also once served as a boathouse for several crew teams, including SMU. White Rock Boathouse established in 1930, originally used for motor boats was later adapted to house sculling boats. The Boathouse later went on to lease the old Filter Building http://www.thefilterbuilding.com/ and holding tanks from the former purification facility and converted them into what may be the largest boathouse worldwide. This building currently houses the boats for SMU, Jesuit Prep, Highland Park High School, Woodrow Wilson High School, and White Rock Boathouse's own crew teams.http://whiterockboathouse.com
The White Rock Boat Club was formed in 1961 as the brainchild of three members of the Corinthian Sailing Club. CSC was having a problem with tracking davit ownership and the price of davits escalated due to demand since the club had no control over prices. Two of the founders, the Oetkings, had also developed a fine catamaran called the Hellcat and had gone into production with growing sales, but they couldn't find davits at CSC. WRBC was constructed not only to supply reasonably priced davits, but to help sell Hellcats. The club sold davits to help pay for the construction of the club, with the provision that the club could buy the davit back if the owner left the club. The club has exercised this right and now owns and leases most of its davits. The club was constructed with a few differences from its present configuration as can be seen in the 1968 photo above. In order to promote organized class sailing, WRBC at one time limited the type of boats kept at the club to racing classes. In the 1970s, the following classes of sailboats were eligible for membership: Butterfly, Coronado 15, Flying Scot, Harpoon, Lido, Lone Star 13, MC Scow, M16 Scow, M20 Scow and Rebel. The club remains active on the lake today.
White Rock Lake is also home to the Southern Methodist University Sailing Club which uses the lake primarily as the team's practice water
qualifier. The primary beneficiary of the marathon is Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
, sunfish
, Crappie, Carp, gar and bass
and bluefish.
is the story of the Lady of White Rock Lake. The tale goes that the ghost of a girl in her early 20s will appear at night, dripping wet in 1920s dinner evening wear, and a car passing along the road circling the lake will stop. The girl tells the driver she had an accident and needs to get home. The driver will then drive to the address given, and when he (or she) arrives, the girl is gone, leaving only a waterlogged seat. The driver then learns after knocking on the door of the house that the girl was their daughter -- she died by drowning when she fell out of a boat on the lake at night many years ago. Some later stories report that the driver taking the girl going to the address arrives, and the house is no longer there: it was torn down years ago and is now the site of an apartment complex. Reports of the ghostly encounters were published in Dallas-area newspapers in the 1960s.
This legend is said to have been the inspiration for the bluegrass song Bringing Mary Home
, written by John Duffey
of The Country Gentlemen
. Their version of the song made the Billboard
Country Chart in 1965. The song has since been recorded by many others, including Frankie Miller
, Mac Wiseman
, Red Sovine
, Ricky Skaggs
, and Daniel O'Donnell
. It is now regarded by many as a bluegrass standard.
Another Lake pastime popular with young adults was viewing The Submarine Races. When there were no curfews at the park, it became a popular spot for high schoolers wanting a deserted, yet beautiful spot for necking. Whether in a car or on a blanket, viewing The Submarine Races at White Rock Lake is still very popular.
The lake was shown on a map in the beginning of the TV show Cheaters
.
Jesuit College Preparatory School Crew
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
located in east
East Dallas
East Dallas comprises many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, .- Neighborhoods :*Baylor/Meadows*Belmont*Hilltop*Bryan Place*Buckner Terrace*East Grand*Casa Linda Estates*Cochran Heights*Casa View*Claremont*Deep Ellum*Eastwood...
Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
(United States). The lake was formed by damming White Rock Creek
White Rock Creek
White Rock Creek is a 30 mile creek in the Elm Fork Trinity River watershed. From its headwaters near Frisco, Texas, it runs south-by-south-east through suburban Dallas for 23.5 miles where it widens into White Rock Lake, then continues south for another 8 miles to its mouth on the Trinity...
, which today widens into the lake before continuing south out of the spillway and emptying into the Trinity River
Trinity River (Texas)
The Trinity River is a long river that flows entirely within the U.S. state of Texas. It rises in extreme north Texas, a few miles south of the Red River. The headwaters are separated by the high bluffs on the south side of the Red River....
. The lake covers 1,254 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s (5.1 km²) in the east Dallas
East Dallas
East Dallas comprises many communities and neighborhoods in Dallas, Texas, .- Neighborhoods :*Baylor/Meadows*Belmont*Hilltop*Bryan Place*Buckner Terrace*East Grand*Casa Linda Estates*Cochran Heights*Casa View*Claremont*Deep Ellum*Eastwood...
community.
History
Before it was a lake, White Rock Lake was a collection of farms owned by the Daniel and Cox families. The first record of the Daniel family farm is in the Family Bible of Thomas Walker Daniel. He and his wife Frances Herndon Daniels seem to have moved to the White Rock area in the late 1830s and early 1840s. Daniel's son had a good friend during the civil war named Cox. When the war was over, the Cox family moved to land adjacent to the Daniel family. Together they had a joint family cemetery called the Daniel-Cox Cemetery. Other pioneer families such as the Humbards, the Glovers, Lavenders, McCommases, Coxes and Donagheys jointly maintained the cemetery.The city of Dallas, in a long range plan for water, forced the Daniel family to sell their land to build White Rock Lake. According to family legend, for two days and nights the Daniel family camped around the lake before water would be released into the area. All that is left of the Daniel and Cox farms is the hold "Daniel-Cox family cemetery." The Daniel family fell upon hard times and when the cemetery was renovated, the Cox family contributed funds to renovate the cemetery so the current sign reads "Cox Cemetery".
Recreation
After its function as a water source was supplanted, White Rock Lake continued to serve as a recreational lake for the city of Dallas. Suburban residents also frequented it as well. From its earliest days, area residents wanting to get away from home constructed cabins on leased property along its shoreline. The Bonnie Barge, for example, was operated on the lake by GarlandGarland
A garland is a class of decoration, of which there are many types.Garland may also refer to:-Places:*Garland, Arkansas, a town in Miller County*Garland County, Arkansas*Garland, Maine, a town in Penobscot County...
resident John H. Williams, Sr. from 1946 to 1956.
Although originally permitted, swimming was banned in September 1952. A ban on motorized boats followed in 1958.
The lake is surrounded by White Rock Lake Park, which features a 9.33 mile (15 km) trail for hiking, running and bicycling
Bicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
, the Bath House Cultural Center
Bath House Cultural Center
The Bath House Cultural Center is the first of six neighborhood cultural centers built and operated by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. It is located on the east shore of White Rock Lake in east Dallas, Texas...
and the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden
The Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden is a 66-acre botanical garden located at 8617 Garland Road in east Dallas, Texas , on the southeastern shore of White Rock Lake....
. There are several fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
piers and sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
is permitted.
The Bath House also once served as a boathouse for several crew teams, including SMU. White Rock Boathouse established in 1930, originally used for motor boats was later adapted to house sculling boats. The Boathouse later went on to lease the old Filter Building http://www.thefilterbuilding.com/ and holding tanks from the former purification facility and converted them into what may be the largest boathouse worldwide. This building currently houses the boats for SMU, Jesuit Prep, Highland Park High School, Woodrow Wilson High School, and White Rock Boathouse's own crew teams.http://whiterockboathouse.com
Sailing
The Corinthian Sailing Club was chartered in 1939 to promote the sport of sailing and sailboat racing in the Dallas area. The club focuses on racing with well attended Saturday and Sunday afternoon races, Wednesday evening "fun" races, club sponsored regattas held year round, and several major annual regattas. The club is nationally known for its excellent sailors and fine race management. CSC, located on beautiful White Rock Lake in Dallas, also sponsors many social activities, teaches adult sailing and supports an active juniors program.The White Rock Boat Club was formed in 1961 as the brainchild of three members of the Corinthian Sailing Club. CSC was having a problem with tracking davit ownership and the price of davits escalated due to demand since the club had no control over prices. Two of the founders, the Oetkings, had also developed a fine catamaran called the Hellcat and had gone into production with growing sales, but they couldn't find davits at CSC. WRBC was constructed not only to supply reasonably priced davits, but to help sell Hellcats. The club sold davits to help pay for the construction of the club, with the provision that the club could buy the davit back if the owner left the club. The club has exercised this right and now owns and leases most of its davits. The club was constructed with a few differences from its present configuration as can be seen in the 1968 photo above. In order to promote organized class sailing, WRBC at one time limited the type of boats kept at the club to racing classes. In the 1970s, the following classes of sailboats were eligible for membership: Butterfly, Coronado 15, Flying Scot, Harpoon, Lido, Lone Star 13, MC Scow, M16 Scow, M20 Scow and Rebel. The club remains active on the lake today.
White Rock Lake is also home to the Southern Methodist University Sailing Club which uses the lake primarily as the team's practice water
White Rock Marathon
Many events are held at White Rock Lake, including the White Rock Marathon, which, for part of the course, runs around the lake. The White Rock Marathon is recognized as a top 10 marathon within the United States, and serves as a Boston MarathonBoston Marathon
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by the U.S. city of Boston, Massachusetts, on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897 and inspired by the success of the first modern-day marathon competition in the 1896 Summer Olympics, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest...
qualifier. The primary beneficiary of the marathon is Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
Flora and fauna
The lake contains catfishCatfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
, sunfish
Centrarchidae
The sunfishes are a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Perciformes. The type genus is Centrarchus . The family's 27 species includes many fishes familiar to North Americans, including the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, and crappies...
, Crappie, Carp, gar and bass
Bass (fish)
Bass is a name shared by many different species of popular gamefish. The term encompasses both freshwater and marine species. All belong to the large order Perciformes, or perch-like fishes, and in fact the word bass comes from Middle English bars, meaning "perch."-Types of basses:*The temperate...
and bluefish.
Folklore
A well-known Dallas urban legendUrban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
is the story of the Lady of White Rock Lake. The tale goes that the ghost of a girl in her early 20s will appear at night, dripping wet in 1920s dinner evening wear, and a car passing along the road circling the lake will stop. The girl tells the driver she had an accident and needs to get home. The driver will then drive to the address given, and when he (or she) arrives, the girl is gone, leaving only a waterlogged seat. The driver then learns after knocking on the door of the house that the girl was their daughter -- she died by drowning when she fell out of a boat on the lake at night many years ago. Some later stories report that the driver taking the girl going to the address arrives, and the house is no longer there: it was torn down years ago and is now the site of an apartment complex. Reports of the ghostly encounters were published in Dallas-area newspapers in the 1960s.
This legend is said to have been the inspiration for the bluegrass song Bringing Mary Home
Bringing Mary Home
Bringing Mary Home is an album by the progressive bluegrass band Country Gentlemen, recorded in 1966..- Track listing :# Bringing Mary Home# Down Where the River Bends# Battle Hymn of the Republic# Banks of the Ohio# Brown Mountain Light...
, written by John Duffey
John Duffey
John H. Duffey was a Washington DC-based bluegrass music innovator and musician....
of The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen were a bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, DC, United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's founders who in its later years served as the group's "focal point...
. Their version of the song made the Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
Country Chart in 1965. The song has since been recorded by many others, including Frankie Miller
Frankie Miller (country musician)
Frankie Miller is an American country musician.-Biography:Miller landed time singing on local station KNAL and recorded for 4 Star Records at the beginning of the 1950s, but served from 1951-53 in the United States Military during the Korean War. In 1954 he signed with Columbia Records, releasing...
, Mac Wiseman
Mac Wiseman
Malcolm B. Wiseman , better known as Mac Wiseman, is an American bluegrass singer, nicknamed The Voice with a Heart. The bearded singer is one of the cult figures of bluegrass....
, Red Sovine
Red Sovine
Woodrow Wilson Sovine , better known as Red Sovine, was an American country music singer associated with truck driving songs, particularly those recited as narratives but set to music...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
, and Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel or Danny O'Donnell may refer to:* Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer* Daniel O'Donnell , American legislator from the state of New York* Danny O'Donnell * Danny O'Donnell...
. It is now regarded by many as a bluegrass standard.
Another Lake pastime popular with young adults was viewing The Submarine Races. When there were no curfews at the park, it became a popular spot for high schoolers wanting a deserted, yet beautiful spot for necking. Whether in a car or on a blanket, viewing The Submarine Races at White Rock Lake is still very popular.
The lake was shown on a map in the beginning of the TV show Cheaters
Cheaters
Cheaters is a weekly syndicated hidden camera reality television series that documents people who are suspected of committing adultery, or cheating, on their partners. Investigations are headed by the "Cheaters Detective Agency". The show is hosted by Joey Greco, the show airs on Saturday nights...
.
Gallery
External links
Jesuit College Preparatory School Crew