Lake Murray State Park
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Lake Murray State Park
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| Location | Carter County, Oklahoma and Love County, Oklahoma |
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| Built | 1935 - 1941 |
| Architectural style | National Park Service Rustic |
| Visitation | Over 1.7 million (2010) |
| NRHP Reference # | 01001097 |
| Added to NRHP | October 12, 2001 |
| Lake Murray | |
|---|---|
| Location | Carter / Love counties, Oklahoma, US |
| Coordinates | 34°02′59″N 97°04′20″W / 34.0496°N 097.0721°WCoordinates: 34°02′59″N 97°04′20″W / 34.0496°N 097.0721°W |
| Lake type | Reservoir |
| Primary inflows | Anadarche Creek, Fourche Maline Creek |
| Primary outflows | Fourche Maline Creek |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 5,728 acres (2,318 ha) |
| Water volume | 153,520 acre·ft (189.36 hm3) |
| Shore length1 | 67 miles (108 km) |
| Settlements | Ardmore, Oklahoma |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Lake Murray is a 5,700-acre (23 km2) lake in south central Oklahoma, near Ardmore named for Oklahoma Governor William H. Murray. It was created by damming Anadarche and Fourche Maline Creeks. The lake is wholly within Lake Murray State Park, Oklahoma's largest state park, containing over 12,500 acres (51 km²) of relative wilderness. A state-operated lodge and resort is located on the west shore that serves many visitors to the lake, and serves as a base for numerous cabin and campground facilities near the lake.
On October 12, 2001, Lake Murray State Park became the first Oklahoma state park listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
According to Ada Evening News, the concept of creating a lake at this location surfaced in 1929, when George C. Gibbons, the secretary of the Ada Chamber of Commerce, inspected the area. He contacted the U. S. Biological Survey, which assigned an engineer and a biologist to perform a preliminary study for creating a wildlife refuge that included a lake for waterfowl habitat. Senator Elmer Thomas also became interested in the proposal. Thomas worked to get congressional approval of $250,000 for the project. However, the Biological Survey failed to complete its report before Congress adjourned.
Meanwhile, William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, who became Governor of Oklahoma in 1931, embraced the proposal. The Great Depression was in full swing and had hit the state hard. Murray realized that such a project could put a lot of people back to work, not only to construct the facility but to operate it afterwards. He pushed the Oklahoma legislature into appropriating $90,000 for land purchases in 1933. The amount was later increased to $150,000. He also approved starting condemnation proceedings to obtain the land and allowing relief funds to pay workers for clearing the heavily-forested proposed lake site
The state legislature appropriated $90,000 on April 10. 1933, to purchase about 10,000 acres (40 km2) in Carter and Love Counties for a state park. The park and the man-made lake it contained would be named Lake Murray, for William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, who was Oklahoma governor from 1931 until 1936. During the following year, the National Park Service (NPS) acquired 2,700 acres (11 km2) adjacent to Lake Murray State Park. The land purchased was designated as a Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA).
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