LAVON LAKE. Lavon Lake, formerly known as Lavon Reservoir, is on the East Fork of the Trinity River in the Trinity River basin ten miles southeast of McKinney in southern Collin County (at 33°01' N, 09°62' W). The project is owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District. The North Texas Municipal Water District is the local cooperative agency, which, by paying part of the cost, has rights to 100,000 acre-feet of water in the conservation pool of the lake. Construction was started in January 1948 and completed in early 1953. Lavon Lake was designed for flood control, conservation storage, and recreational use. The crest of the spillway is 472 feet above mean sea level. The lake is 9,540 feet long and has a conservation storage capacity of 275,000 acre-feet covering a surface area of 11,080 acres. It has an eighty-three mile shoreline ninety feet above sea level. The drainage area above the dam is 770 square miles. Conservation storage is for municipal, industrial, and irrigation use. Construction of the dam assisted in preventing seasonal flooding of rich bottomland in southeastern Collin County and stimulated land development along the shores of the lake, including Lavon Beach Estates and Lavon Shore Estates. Lakeside parks and marinas have transformed such farm and ranch communities as Lavon, Lucas, and Copeville into commercial and recreational centers. One park, Caddo, was built especially for the handicapped.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Lee and Lillian J. Stambaugh, A History of Collin County (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1958).