Steven Butler, David Fisher, and Eliot Greene hold the historic dam photo.

This is a portion of the center of the historic dam photo. The entire photo measures 43" x 10".

Historic White Rock Lake Photo Comes to Light!
On Friday, May 9, 2003, Eliot Greene, son of the late Texas author A. C. Greene, visited the Bath House Cultural Center. There, he showed White Rock historian Steven Butler and Bath House manager David Fisher a seldom-seen photo that previously belonged to his father.

Measuring 43 inches long by 10 inches wide, this historic photograph was taken by turn-of-the-century Dallas photographer Henry Clogensen. Although Clogensen took innumerable photos of the Dallas area during the early 1900s, not much is known about him. Anyone with any information about the photographer is encouraged to contact the author of this web site at: texian1846@yahoo.com

The photograph probably dates from 1911 or 1912, shortly after the dam was completed. The lake, as seen in the photo, has barely any water impounded and indeed, the spillway area is completely dry. On it, an automobile is parked. The driver is believed to be Fred A. Jones, the contractor whose company built the dam. All three men agree that it's likely the photo was commissioned by Jones, as a record of his achievement.

There are two other figures in the photograph. One is standing on the old catwalk that used to span the spillway. The other is seated beneath a tree on the opposite site of the photo. Neither is identifiable. Present-day Garland Road, then unpaved, can be seen in the foreground. Other noteworthy features of the photo are buildings that may be a part of the infamous "Pea Patch," where non-violent offenders worked off their fines, a smokestackless pump station, and several farm houses and buildings, including what may be part of the old Jacob Buhrer dairy farm.

A larger version of this photograph is expected to be viewable on this web site in the very near future.