Garza Dam, also known as the Lake Dallas Dam, is now a part of Lewisville Lake, which is owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District; its purpose is to control potential flood waters originating within the Elm Fork (Trinity River) drainage basin. The resulting reservoir also served as the City of Dallas’ primary water supply for about thirty years. The dam is significant in city history because it successfully met water supply needs for a population that more than doubled between 1920 and 1930.

Named for the village of Garza, Texas, the dam’s five million dollar construction cost was paid through a 1923 bond election. The dam was designed by the Dallas firm of Nagle and Thompson and the winning bid was awarded to the W. E. Callahan Construction Company of Dallas; work commenced in October, 1924 and ended in May, 1927. The completed dam was 11,000 feet long and 80 feet high and at the time of its first operation it impounded about 63 billion gallons of water. It was extensively documented in written and photographic studies by the Dallas Waterworks. Garza Dam was breached in 1957 to create the new lake, known then as Garza-Little Elm Reservoir and renamed Lewisville Lake. The dam was located between what is now the City of Hickory Creek and the City of Lakewood Village.

Collection consists of documents between the City of Dallas and multiple legal, land acquisition, and bidding companies for municipal water reservoirs and reservoir-related projects in Denton County, including Garza Dam Reservoir and the Fish Trap Road Causeway.