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LCS: BRA celebrates 90 year anniversary, looks ahead
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The Morris Sheppard Dam at Possum Kingdom Lake began construction in 1936 with funding through President Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration Program. Pictured is progress of the dam as of Oct. 15, 1939. The dam was completed in 1941. (Contributed photo by BRA)
The Brazos River Authority (BRA) is celebrating their 90 year anniversary and is predicting what the weather has in store for the river basin including Possum Kingdom Lake in 2019.
In 1929, the Texas Legislature formed the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District, eventually renamed to the BRA in 1953, to tame the state’s largest river after losses of more than 200 lives and millions of dollars in property damage due to flooding from 1913 to 1921.
The BRA would become the first agency of its kind in the United States. The organization was responsible for over 42,000 squared miles which was home to about 16 percent of the state’s population without state funding or the power to levy taxes.
The first goal of the organization was to build a reservoir which could help control flooding. However, the Flood Control Act of 1936 would give U.S. Army Corps authority of all flood projects in the nation. The BRA began to focus on water supply to support the growth of population in Texas.
For more from this story see the Wednesday, Jan. 30 edition of The Graham Leader and the Breckenridge American.
