Okmulgee Spillway – Okmulgee OK

City:
Okmulgee, OK

Site Type:
Flood and Erosion Control, Infrastructure and Utilities

New Deal Agencies:
Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Started:
1939

Completed:
1940

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Extant

Description

Before turning off onto the main road that enters Okmulgee State Park, be sure follow state road 56 until you come to the spillway cascade. The Okmulgee Spillway, built in 1939-1940 by the Work Projects Administration, sits at the northeastern most point of the Lake Okmulgee Dam. The 40-foot-high by 250-foot- long cascade which is being nominated, is a series of upwardly rising limestone steps which buttress the original 1927-28 spiliway (built by a private contractor), on the dry side of the dam. Stone retaining walls buttress the dry side cuts that were made into the dam to accommodate the spiliway. The retaining walls are stepped upward from the creek floor, providing access up and down the slope. The center of the stepped cascade is additionally buttressed by a 72 x 72 foot stone platform. The floor of the creek is paved with stone blocks as well. Across the creek from the cascade, a stone retaining wall follows the line of the highway and prevents washouts from Lake Okmulgee. This is the only such flood control/recreational structure of this design, material, and workmanship in Okmulgee County.

Source notes

https://hubpages.com/travel/Fun-things-to-do-in-Okmulgee-Oklahoma

Site originally submitted by Douglass Halvorsen on February 14, 2018.

Location Info


State Road 56
Okmulgee, Oklahoma 74447
Okmulgee County

Location notes: Spillway is located at the NE corner of Okmulgee Lake and next to State Road 56.

Coordinates: 35.622623, -96.059282

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3 comments on “Okmulgee Spillway – Okmulgee OK

  1. Floyd A Craig

    I went to Okmulgee high school 48 years ago.
    The picture of water coming over spillway is first time
    I ever have seen! My family spent many happy days
    At the lake – Floyd Craig, Franklin, Tn-
    My family the Rev Floyd M and Bonnie Craig. Children
    Doris, Gene, Floyd. My dad was pastor of the
    Southside Baptist Church in Okmulgee. It was one of the happy days that my mother and walked in woods and ask me find a log or stone to sit on and listen until
    I could things. Of course, the more I was quiet and listened the more I heard. Then she quoted the Bible verse “Be still and Know” a truth that has stayed with me all the years. I have recently celebrated my 90th birthday!!.

  2. That’s great and congrats on your 90th. i can remember my grandpa and my dad taking me there more than once( usually after a rough day lakesid). The rule was always that we could stay until one of us caught the same fish twice. We always just put a small loop of thread on them to mark them. Can remember being there less than five minutes once. Family name,
    Stroup. Grandparents Charles( Ford glass) *passed*
    Geneva Stroup\Paullus ( Teacher ) 99yrs and counting
    Father David L. Stroup, (Ford Glass\Tulsa) 67 as of the 23rd.
    Alot of good memories and now lucky enough to be making even more with my kids. Places like this one are something special. Most places have been either ruined by the thoughtless, become passed over by time, or simply “upgraded” into something else. Can almost see and hear those whispers from the past with how little its changed.

  3. David, if your grandmother, Geneva Stroup, was an elementary school teacher in Okmulgee, she was my favorite teacher of all. I was just talking to my mother about Mrs. Stroup tonight and decided to look her up and found this article.

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Contribute to this Site

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3 comments on “Okmulgee Spillway – Okmulgee OK

  1. Floyd A Craig

    I went to Okmulgee high school 48 years ago.
    The picture of water coming over spillway is first time
    I ever have seen! My family spent many happy days
    At the lake – Floyd Craig, Franklin, Tn-
    My family the Rev Floyd M and Bonnie Craig. Children
    Doris, Gene, Floyd. My dad was pastor of the
    Southside Baptist Church in Okmulgee. It was one of the happy days that my mother and walked in woods and ask me find a log or stone to sit on and listen until
    I could things. Of course, the more I was quiet and listened the more I heard. Then she quoted the Bible verse “Be still and Know” a truth that has stayed with me all the years. I have recently celebrated my 90th birthday!!.

  2. That’s great and congrats on your 90th. i can remember my grandpa and my dad taking me there more than once( usually after a rough day lakesid). The rule was always that we could stay until one of us caught the same fish twice. We always just put a small loop of thread on them to mark them. Can remember being there less than five minutes once. Family name,
    Stroup. Grandparents Charles( Ford glass) *passed*
    Geneva Stroup\Paullus ( Teacher ) 99yrs and counting
    Father David L. Stroup, (Ford Glass\Tulsa) 67 as of the 23rd.
    Alot of good memories and now lucky enough to be making even more with my kids. Places like this one are something special. Most places have been either ruined by the thoughtless, become passed over by time, or simply “upgraded” into something else. Can almost see and hear those whispers from the past with how little its changed.

  3. David, if your grandmother, Geneva Stroup, was an elementary school teacher in Okmulgee, she was my favorite teacher of all. I was just talking to my mother about Mrs. Stroup tonight and decided to look her up and found this article.

Join the Conversation

Please note:

  • We are not involved in the management of New Deal sites and have no information about visits, hours or rentals.
  • This page shows all the information we have for this site; if you have new information or photos to share, click the button above.

Your email address will not be published, shared, or sold.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.