One of the earliest articles I have seen about the building of Proctor Dam was in the August 31, 1945 Dublin Progress. City fathers in Dublin, De Leon and Comanche knew that droughts happened often in our counties and the wells we had might not supply us with all the water we needed. The plan was for the three cities to work together to create a new flood control lake of about 4000 acres with a maximum depth of 60 feet. The land near Paul Grey’s residence was investigated by a group of people from the towns. The flood control would be beneficial and save 50,000 acres of rich bottom land below the proposed site which was ruined each year due to flooding. (Dublin Progress, August 31, 1945)
Over the next 15 years, there were studies and efforts to get funding for the project. The original concept was to pump all the water to Dublin, since it has the highest elevation of the three cities, and use gravity feet to send the water to Comanche and De Leon. (Dublin Progress, November 20, 1959)
With the announcement that the funding was approved, we found out the cost of the project would be $18,000,000. The ground breaking ceremony took place on Friday December 9, 1960. Mayor C. B. Bradberry of Dublin published a proclamation stating that all of Dublin would be closed that day, so that all residents could attend the ceremonials. US Army General E. C. Itschner, Chief Engineer was present for the ceremony along with Col. R. P West, District Engineer. (Dublin Progress, December 9, 1960)
The dam was finished and dedicated on April, 11 1964 with Bill Gaines, Omar Burleson and Ralph Yarborough speaking. The engineer for the project recommended that Proctor Reservoir be used as a proven source of water for Dublin. Mayor Ed Leatherwood talked to the Dublin Development Club about the use of Proctor water. He spoke of Dublin’s “Participation in a proposed water district which would secure water from Proctor Lake for Municipal use. Due to the gradual fall of the underground water tables and the increasing expense of pumping water from the deep wells, Leatherwood urged everyone to become aware of the serious water problem and to vote on this important issue to assure an adequate supply of water for future needs...” (Dublin Progress, April, 16 1964)
The plans were approved, the pipes were laid and Dublin finally got Proctor Water as our household water supply in March of 1969. We had been told it would taste bad and maybe smell to begin with, but it would quickly go away. I remember opening the tap and having something more like iced tea come out. Mayor Coy Perry said that it would improve soon. Some of the pipes in Dublin were more than 50 years old. The new water coming from the lake contained Chlorine which acted as a cleaning agent as well as making the water safe to drink. The minerals that had lined the pipes over the past 50 years were dissolved. In our household, we just drank the water and no harm happened to us. The people of Dublin took it with a sense of humor and found the problem solved itself after a time. (The Dublin Progress, March 20, 1969)
Our city leaders knew that the water table would continue to drop and it would be important to get this new source of water from Proctor. Their planning and foresight has enabled Dublin to have a safe and dependable source of water since then.