page_title: Wright Patman Dam
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Wright Patman Dam / History
caption_attribution_description: English: An early photo of the Lake Texarkana emergency spillway which has never been topped.
context_page_description: Wright Patman Dam is an earth-fill dam across the Sulphur River in northeast Texas in the United States. The water impounded by the dam forms Wright Patman Lake.
context_section_description: Wright Patman Dam (originally called Texarkana Dam) was authorized as part of the Flood Contract Act of 1946.  Construction began in 1948, and the Sulphur River was blocked and routed through the dam's control gates in 1953.  The gates were closed and water impounded in 1956. In 1973, the project was renamed in honor of Congressman Wright Patman of Texas.
  The dam's design and construction were the responsibility of the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  In 1973, responsibility for the dam and lake were transferred to the Fort Worth District of the Corps of Engineers.
  of the Lake Texarkana Dam during the initial phase of construction in Bowie county, Texas looking north.]]
caption: An early photo of the Lake Texarkana emergency spillway which has never been topped.