Lone Star Lake and Douglas County Civilian Conservation Corps Dam

Lone Star Lake is one of the two man-made lakes in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas. The lake was approved by the Federal Government in 1934 as a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) project aimed at providing recreation and beautification in Douglas County. The original scope of the project included "a dam 1400 feet long impounding 150 acres of water with a maximum shoreline of five miles." The project started on August 4th, 1934 with construction beginning in October of the same year. Originally the project was overseen by the Forestry Fish and Game Commission but for financial reasons was later delegated to Douglas County the lake would not be finished until July 27, 1940. 

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised the American people a "New Deal" in the election cycle of 1932. One of the many ways he hoped to get the people of the United States back to work was via the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). March 21st, 1933, FDR requested Congress pass legislation for unemployment relief. The CCC was one of many such programs others include the PWA and the WPA. The legislation was intended to employ a quarter of a million men in forestry, conservation, and other various recreation and beautification projects. The program is one of the most successful New Deal programs employing more than three million young men ages 18-15 from 1933-1942. Francis W. Schruben estimates that approximately 3,700 young men from Kansas were employed in the first year of the program and were responsible for removing 3,652 families from the dole relief. The CCC provided meals, lodging, and $30 a month, although it was required that $25 be sent back to the families of the workers. Schruben argues that the worth of the CCC was immeasurable stating "...the corps had taken the young men away from poverty and the streets and had given them a renewed self-respect" as during the Great Depression Americans were ashamed at the thought of relief as it felt like a handout. The CCC and other unemployment relief programs gave Americans the chance to work for their livelihoods again.

However, the CCC was less than perfect, despite containing non-discriminatory work practice clauses in the federal legislation nationally there were only 200,000 Black workers and 80,000 Native American workers. Moreover, African American CCC troops lived and worked in segregated conditions. On the Lone State Lake Project white CCC workers finished working on October 24th, 1934 even though the lake was far from complete due to segregated work practices. Black CCC workers would not continue to work on the project until almost a month later.

Kennedy, David. Freedom from Fear: the American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

KHRI: Lone Star Lake & Douglas County CCC Dam. (n.d.). Retrieved May 8, 2023, from https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=045-6396

“Lake Is Approved” Lawrence Daily Journal-World. 4, Jul. 1934, p. 1.

“Lone Star Lake” The Lawrence Democrat. 1 Aug. 1940,p. 1.

Schruben, Francis W. Kansas in Turmoil 1930-1936, Missouri: University of Missouri Press, 1969.

Vondrak, Natalie . Lone Star Lake: History with a Waterfront View, Watkins Museum of History. June 15th, 2022. Accessed May 9th, 2023.

https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/2022/06/lone-star-lake-history-with-a-waterfront-view/.