Lake Murray (Oklahoma)

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 land purchased was designated as a Recreational Demonstration Area (RDA). The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established two camps to support the Lake Murray project. The park was designed by E. J. Johnson, who would later serve as park superintendent from 1935 to 1940. The design of structures and facilities employed the same National Park Service rustic style that had been used previously at Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Yosemite National Parks. In 2013, the state governor authorized the Department of Tourism to spend up to $15 million to construct a new lodge at Lake Murray State Park. After a number of changes, upgrades and cost overruns, the new lodge was completed in 2017 at a cost of over $30 million. ==Park description==

Lake Murray State Park is Oklahoma's oldest and largest state park. The state legislature bought the property for the park for about $490,000 on April 10, 1933. == Lake description ==

Lake Murray is a man-made reservoir, created by building an earthen dam across the Anadarche and Fourche Maline Creeks. It was intended primarily for recreational use. The lake has a surface area of , a shoreline of and a capacity of 153,250 acre-feet. The dam was completed in 1937. The original plans for the dam were developed by engineers from Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College, now named Oklahoma State University (OSU). The WPA began constructing the dam in 1935. The structure was completed and turned over to the state on March 5, 1938. ==Tucker Tower==

Tucker Tower was originally intended as a summer residence for then-Gov. William H. "Alfalfa Bill" Murray, in return for his efforts to get the lake and state park situated in Southern Oklahoma. The design was based on photographs of a European castle that were taken by Fred Tucker, a veteran of World War I and an Oklahoma state senator, and for whom the structure is named. It is constructed of limestone that was quarried at the park site. The tower is five stories high with an observation deck on top. There is a two-story section that was intended as a living area. No governor has ever spent a night there. The renovation, which included a addition, cost about $3 million, was paid for by the park's oil and gas trust fund and public donations. The nature center has a classroom and exhibits of local geology, wildlife, and native inhabitants. ==Fees==

To help fund a backlog of deferred maintenance and park improvements, the state implemented an entrance fee for this park and 21 others effective June 15, 2020. The fees, charged per vehicle, start at $10 per day for a single-day or $8 for residents with an Oklahoma license plate or Oklahoma tribal plate. Fees are waived for honorably discharged veterans and Oklahoma residents age 62 & older and their spouses. Passes good for three days or a week are also available; annual passes good at all 22 state parks charging fees are offered at a cost of $75 for out-of-state visitors or $60 for Oklahoma residents. The 22 parks are: • Arrowhead Area at Lake Eufaula State Park • Beavers Bend State Park • Boiling Springs State Park • Cherokee Landing State Park • Fort Cobb State Park • Foss State Park • Honey Creek Area at Grand Lake State Park • Great Plains State Park • Great Salt Plains State Park • Greenleaf State Park • Keystone State Park • Lake Eufaula State Park • Lake Murray State Park • Lake Texoma State Park • Lake Thunderbird State Park • Lake Wister State Park • Natural Falls State Park • Osage Hills State Park • Robbers Cave State Park • Sequoyah State Park • Tenkiller State Park • Twin Bridges Area at Grand Lake State Park ==National Register of Historic Places listing==

LMPC became the first state park in Oklahoma to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). It was added to the list on October 12, 2001, with registration number NR 01001097. The application for registration stated that: Lake Murray State Park is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C for its close association with a number of New Deal programs, as the largest, most intact Recreational Demonstration Area in Oklahoma, and as a designed landscape that reflects the National Park Service design philosophy for state and national parks. The park has had an enormous economic impact in the area, both historically and presently. It retains a high degree of integrity and accurately reflects the period of its planning and construction.. The applicable NRHP criteria are defined as follows: Criterion A: "Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history." Criterion C: "Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. The application for NRHP listing identified 195 contributing resources for the district. The sheer size of the list precludes listing them all in this article, but they can be found on the original application. All of the significant resources within the proposed district boundaries were labeled as either "Contributing" or "non-contributing". Resources in the former category had to meet certain criteria: • Built during the Period of Significance (defined as 1933 - 1942 for LMSP); • Involved in some aspect of the park during that time; • Had not lost their historical character through remodeling or conversion to other uses. Non-contributing resources were usually those built less than 50 years before date of the listing on the NRHP. The application also characterized the resources as follows: ==Location==

The lake can be reached via Interstate 35, Exit 24/29, then east on State Highway 77S. SH-77S completely encircles the lake and provides excellent access to all parts of the lake. ==Additional information==

• NRHP Application. • National Register Properties in Oklahoma: Lake Murray State Park" ==References==