Tygart Dam — also known as Tygart River Dam — is a dam built and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in
Taylor County, West Virginia
Taylor County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,705. Its county seat is Grafton. The county was formed in 1844 and named for Senator John Taylor of Caroline.
Taylor County is part of ...
, United States.
The dam regulates the waters of the
Tygart Valley River. Its storage reservoir is known as
Tygart Lake
Tygart Dam — also known as Tygart River Dam — is a dam built and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in Taylor County, West Virginia, United States. The dam regulates the waters of the Tygart Valley River. Its storage reservo ...
. Most of the lakeshore is occupied by
Tygart Lake State Park
Tygart Lake State Park sits on along the shores of Tygart Lake in Taylor County near Grafton, West Virginia, United States.
Facilities
* 20-room Tygart Lake Lodge
* Lodge restaurant
* 2 gift shops
* 11 cabins
* 40 camp sites (10 with electric ...
and
Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area. The structure was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1995.
History
Tygart Dam and Lake were authorized by the
Rivers and Harbors Act of 1935
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
; they represented the first of 16 flood control projects in the Pittsburgh District of the
.
["Tygart Lake", Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers](_blank)
website. The Dam was designed in part by architect
Paul Philippe Cret and built between 1934 and 1938, as a project sponsored by the
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
to provide for flood control.
Small communities — such as
Yates Yates may refer to:
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*Fort Yates, North Dakota
*Yates Spring, a spring in Georgia, United States
*Yates City, Illinois
* Yates Township, Illinois
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,
Cecil
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,
Sandy
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,
Cove Run, and
Stone House — were partially or fully evacuated at the time of the dam construction. The intent of the project was to provide flood protection for the Tygart River Valley as well as for the Monongahela and upper Ohio Rivers. Construction costs totaled $18.5 million.
Description
The dam
Tygart Dam is about south of
Grafton. It is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The concrete gravity dam has an uncontrolled spillway and measures long and thick at the base. The structure features some
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style decorative elements. Located within the historic area are the Tygart Dam; two dam tender dwellings; two maintenance buildings; comfort, storage and concession building; overlook and parking area; and resource manager's office.
The lake
Tygart Lake is situated in the south-central part of Taylor County, although the southern end of the reservoir reaches into northern
Barbour County. It has the capability to store the equivalent run-off of 4.56 inches of precipitation from the Lake's 1,184 square mile drainage area. The project's flood control benefits were demonstrated most notably during
the November 1985 floods when it prevented an estimated $195.8 million in damages and lowered flood crests along the Monongahela River by as much as 6.8 feet. Since its completion in 1938, Tygart Dam has prevented flood damages estimated by the Corps to be nearly $1.2 billion.
["Tygart Lake", Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers](_blank)
website.
References
{{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Art Deco architecture in West Virginia
Dams completed in 1938
Buildings and structures in Taylor County, West Virginia
Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Paul Philippe Cret buildings
Public Works Administration in West Virginia
United States Army Corps of Engineers dams
Dams in West Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Taylor County, West Virginia