Tygart Dam — also known as Tygart River Dam — is a

gravity dam A gravity dam is a dam constructed from concrete or stone masonry and designed to hold back water by using only the weight of the material and its resistance against the foundation. Gravity dams are designed so that each section of the dam is ...

built (1934-38) and operated by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in

Taylor County, West Virginia Taylor County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,705. Its county seat is Grafton, West Virginia, Grafton. The county was formed in 1844 and named for Senator John Taylor of Caroline. Ta ...

, United States. The dam regulates the waters of the

Tygart Valley River The Tygart Valley River — also known as the Tygart River — is a principal tributary of the Monongahela River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed A ...

. Its storage reservoir is known as Tygart Lake. Most of the lakeshore is occupied by Tygart Lake State Park and Pleasant Creek Wildlife Management Area. The structure was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1995.

History

Tygart Dam and Lake were authorized by the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1935; they represented the first of 16 flood control projects in the Pittsburgh District of the

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

."Tygart Lake", Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
website. The Dam was designed in part by architect

Paul Philippe Cret Paul Philippe Cret (October 23, 1876 – September 8, 1945) was a French-born Philadelphia architect and industrial designer. For more than thirty years, he taught at a design studio in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsyl ...

and built between 1934 and '38, as a project sponsored by the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...

to provide for flood control. Small communities — such as Yates, Cecil,

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (Iranian music band), Iranian singer, comp ...

, Cove Run, and Stone House — were partially or fully evacuated at the time of the dam construction. The intent of the project was to provide flood protection for the Tygart River Valley as well as for the Monongahela and upper Ohio Rivers. Construction costs totaled $18.5 million.

Description

The dam

Tygart Dam is about south of Grafton. It is owned and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The concrete gravity dam has an uncontrolled spillway and measures long and thick at the base. The structure features some

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style decorative elements. Located within the historic area are the Tygart Dam; two dam tender dwellings; two maintenance buildings; comfort, storage and concession building; overlook and parking area; and resource manager's office.

The lake

Tygart Lake is situated in the south-central part of Taylor County, although the southern end of the reservoir reaches into northern Barbour County. It has the capability to store the equivalent run-off of 4.56 inches of precipitation from the Lake's 1,184 square mile drainage area. The project's flood control benefits were demonstrated most notably during the November 1985 floods when it prevented an estimated $195.8 million in damages and lowered flood crests along the Monongahela River by as much as 6.8 feet. Since its completion in 1938, Tygart Dam has prevented flood damages estimated by the Corps to be nearly $1.2 billion."Tygart Lake", Pittsburgh District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
website.

Recreation

Fishing

Multiple West Virginia stage record fish were caught along the Tygart Lake.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Art Deco architecture in West Virginia Dams completed in 1938 Buildings and structures in Taylor County, West Virginia Dams on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia Paul Philippe Cret buildings Public Works Administration in West Virginia United States Army Corps of Engineers dams Dams in West Virginia National Register of Historic Places in Taylor County, West Virginia Tygart Valley River