Officially known as Eau Claire River 2WP224 Dam and dedicated on August 12, 1937, this concrete gravity dam arose from the unemployment crisis of the Great Depression and the need for conservation. After the stock market crash of 1929 brought widespread poverty, most Wisconsin banks had closed by 1933 and nearly 400,000 residents were on welfare. President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal led Congress in 1935 to establish the Works Progress Administration, which allocated $318 million to Wisconsin, with three-fourths for infrastructure such as dams and bridges and one-fourth for community service projects. Along the Eau Claire River, sandy soil did not support farming, and flooding affected Altoona and Eau Claire. The dam and a clubhouse were built here as part of a county-wide conservation project. Employing 200 workers, it was the largest WPA project in the state. Clearing timber and brush began in October 1935, and the final concrete pour was completed on September 13, 1936. The dam is 251 feet long, 24 feet high, and created 1.7 square miles of lake surface area, providing flood control and recreation.