White Rock Pump Station
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In response to increased population and extended droughts in the early 1900s, this facility was built to provide an additional water supply for the city of Dallas. Designed and built in 1911 by the city engineering department, the Renaissance Revival structure features corbelled brick and terra cotta details. Although its use has varied and much of its original mechanical equipment is no longer intact, it remains an important water utility structure. RTHL - 1989
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Dallas's population surged and droughts strained its water supply in the early 1900s, the city engineering department designed and built this pump station in 1911 to draw on additional water. Its Renaissance Revival dress—corbelled brick and terra cotta—gave a utilitarian waterworks the dignity of a public building. Though its machinery has changed over the decades, the structure endures as a landmark of the city's water system.
Why it matters
The station reflects the Progressive-era push to build the reliable public infrastructure that let American cities grow.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
White Rock Dam, Reservoir and Park
Dallas, TX
As Dallas outgrew its springs, wells, and the Trinity River in the early 1900s, the city acquired thousands of acres and built a dam on White Rock Creek, completing the reservoir and pump house by 1911 though drought delayed a full lake until 1914. Over the following decades the shoreline became a beloved city park with an Art Deco bathhouse, a swimming beach, and facilities built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration. During World War II the former CCC camp served as an Army Air Corps center and a camp for German prisoners of war.
DeGolyer House
Dallas, TX
Everette Lee DeGolyer struck oil in Mexico while still a college student and went on to become one of the world's foremost petroleum geologists and a celebrated rare-book collector. In 1936 he and his wife Nell moved to Dallas and built this rambling Spanish Colonial Revival home above White Rock Lake, evocative of a Mexican hacienda and finished with fine craftsmanship. After the couple's deaths the estate passed to Southern Methodist University and the City of Dallas.
Marcus House
Dallas, TX
After dismissing Frank Lloyd Wright over an unsatisfactory design, retailing pioneer Stanley Marcus turned to Dallas architect Roscoe DeWitt for this crisp International Style residence, completed in 1938. The Neiman Marcus visionary — celebrated worldwide for his innovations in fashion retailing and his patronage of modern design — filled the house with hundreds of eminent guests, from President Lyndon Johnson to Princess Grace of Monaco. The family lived here until 1994, leaving one of Texas's most notable examples of the style.
Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2896
Dallas, TX
When Franklin Roosevelt launched the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 to fight Depression-era joblessness, camps like Dallas's Company 2896 put young men to work building parks and learning trades. From 1935, roughly 3,000 enrollees passed through this camp, planting more than 1,500 trees and constructing trails, shelters, and picnic grounds. After Pearl Harbor the Army took it over for induction and training and briefly held some 300 German prisoners of war here.