Early Dallas residents depended on natural springs, artesian wells, and the Trinity River for water, but by the early 1900s these sources were no longer adequate for the growing city. In 1909, under Mayor Stephen J. Hay, Dallas began acquiring 2,292 acres to build a reservoir on White Rock Creek. The Fred A. Jones Co. started construction in January 1910, and the dam and pump house were completed in 1911, though drought kept the lake from filling until April 1914. Fishing was permitted beginning in 1917, and within 10 years sailing and boating had become popular. In 1929, the land around the lake became a city park, and the following year the city added a picnic shelter and tables while Carsey and Linskie designed an Art Deco bathhouse and boathouse, alongside a sandy swimmers’ beach. Until 1935, the city operated a prison farm at the lake, and from 1935 to 1942 a Civilian Conservation Corps camp built many facilities while the Works Progress Administration funded other improvements. In the 1930s and 1940s, more than a half million people visited the lake each summer. During World War II, the former CCC camp served as a U.S. Army Air Corps center and as the site of a camp for German prisoners of war. A 1953 drought led the city to ban swimming and temporarily use the lake as a water source, and a 1958 ordinance banning large outboard motors sent outboard enthusiasts to other lakes. Visitor numbers declined afterward, but later revitalization efforts increased park use and encouraged preservation of the park and its history.