April 16, 2020 marks the 70th anniversary of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District! Thanks for visiting our website. Enjoy reading a little about our history and take a look back into the origin and some of the defining moments of the district.
#ThisIsFortWorth
We were founded in 1950, but got our start from the disastrous events of 1949...
Since Fort Worth’s founding as a small Army outpost in the 1840s, the city grew steadily as settlers were attracted to the rich farmland that the area around Fort Worth had to offer. A major player in that rich farmland was the Trinity River. However, the Trinity was difficult to control even with the use of levees that were put in place in the early 1900s. By the 1940s, there are had been several disastrous floods...
In the spring of 1949 and estimated 11 inches of rain fell on Fort Worth. This rainfall created a 10-mile area of devastation that destroyed nearly 1,000 homes and left over 1,300 people without a place to live. The 1949 flood caused an estimated $15 million dollars’ worth of damages. Today this would be the equivalent of over $162 million dollars. Out of this devastation was born the Fort Worth District. Today, the Fort Worth District operates 25 flood-risk reservoirs across the state of Texas, which help to aid in the prevention and reducing the risk of flooding as well as provide water supply, ecosystem restoration, and recreation.
Lewisville Lake
USACE Fort Worth’s Lewisville Lake is the second lake to impound the waters of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River. Before the construction of the lake the area was prairies, farmland, and forests. The city of Dallas constructed the original lake in the mid-1920s for water supply which was at the time named Lake Dallas. In 1948, Galveston District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers took over the original dam and spillway which was then 10,890 feet long and had a 515-foot spillway. Expansion of the lake and dam started in 1948 and was completed in 1955 and the lake was renamed to Lewisville Lake. Completion of the project extended the dam to 32,888 feet (just over 6 miles) and the spillway to 560 feet. Fort Worth District took over the project at its completion in the 1950s. Today the lake and its properties total nearly 30,000 acres and provide water supply, flood risk management, conservation and recreation for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
You can learn all about what Lewisville Lake has to offer from Lake Manager Rob Jordan on our podcast "Life is Better at the Lake" here -->
SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/usacefortworth/lbl-ep1
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/life-is-better-at-the-lake-lbl-ep-1-lewisville-and-ray-roberts/id1496890748?i=1000464243350
William Beaumont Army Medical Center Replacement – Fort Bliss, Texas
Fort Worth District began construction of the replacement for the William Beaumont Army Medical Center (WBAMC) in 2013 and completed construction early 2020. We completed this project with industry partners and stakeholders and we were proud to be able to deliver a project that is state of the art and will be able to serve our military members and their families for many years to come. With the facility coming in at just under 1.2 million square feet, the new WBAMC is one of the largest hospitals our district has built. The facility incorporates design and elements that are native to the El Paso landscape that assist the facility in looking natural within its surroundings.
Read more about the hospital here: https://www.dvidshub.net/news/363236/corps-completes-new-medical-center-ushers-new-era-health-care-fort-bliss-military-community
Watch the video series:
Teaser:
Project Construction Manager Interview:
Project Overview:
Media Day with Col. Kenneth Reed:
Visit the Fort Worth District Web site at: https://www.swf.usace.army.mil and social media at: https://about.me/usacefortworth