Lake Stanley Draper is a

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

in southeast

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is one of three municipal reservoirs in the city. Principal construction on the reservoir occurred between 1962-1963. Upon completion it was named after the long-time director of the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce,

Stanley Draper Stanley Carlisle Draper (November 21, 1889 – January 8, 1976) was an American community leader responsible for the growth of Oklahoma City into a regional power during the mid-20th century. Together with Edward K. Gaylord, and other prom ...

.Knapp, Adam, "Oklahoma City's Lake Stanley Draper."
Accessed August 26, 2015. Located between Midwest Boulevard and Post Road, near I-240, it receives water by pipeline from Atoka Lake and McGee Creek Reservoir."Lake Stanley Draper," City of Oklahoma City.
Accessed August 25, 2015.

History

The lake was begun in 1962 to serve as a reservoir for Oklahoma City.

Description

It has a surface area of , an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The volume is "Lake & Reservoir Search Results." LakeLubbers.com
Accessed January 28, 2019.

Recreation

The lake is open for a number of things including, fishing, ATVs or dirt bikes, R.C. airplanes, boating (sailing,

Water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on one or two skis. The sport requires sufficien ...

, and

jet skiing A personal watercraft (PWC), also called Jet Ski or water scooter, is a primarily recreational watercraft that is designed to hold only a small number of occupants, who sit or stand on top of the craft, not within the craft as in a boat. P ...

). Water skiing is allowed in the main body of the lake, but swimming is prohibited everywhere in the lake. There are four covered fishing piers, primitive campgrounds, picnic grounds, grills and rest rooms.

Maintenance

In March 2010 City of

began work for the Atoka Pump Station Rehabilitation Project (APSRP). During the project 24 new pumps were installed while six others were refurbished along the Atoka Pipeline. During that time, the pumps were periodically shut down to allow for installation and refurbishment, which caused lake water levels to drop well below its normal pool depth of . Because of the low water levels all boating is prohibited, with only authorized personnel allowed on the water. On February 25, 2011, the pipeline was brought back to full service allowing water to be pumped from Lake Atoka to Draper. From February 2011 the lake's water level remained low due to the lack of heavy rainfall because of the then ongoing

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

and water usage by residents of Oklahoma City. The City expected that the lake would return to levels high enough to allow recreational use by late fall 2013. In April 2015 following substantial rainfall, the lake reached and passed its pool depth, bringing the lake back to full capacity.

In Popular Culture

Lake Stanley Draper is featured prominently in
Free Nights and Weekends Podcast episode
in 2024.

Notes

References

{{authority control Geography of Oklahoma City Protected areas of Cleveland County, Oklahoma

Tourist attractions in Oklahoma City Bodies of water of Cleveland County, Oklahoma Infrastructure completed in 1963