In some of the manmade lakes throughout Texas, their history is far in the past.
Ray Roberts, however, still has that living history in the form of area residents who remember seeing the land beneath the lake.
“It wasn’t that long ago,” said Robbie Merritt, the Ray Roberts Lake State Park superintendent. “We still talk to people almost weekly that come through, [saying,] ‘I remember when the lake wasn’t here,’ ‘Such and such had property down here,’ or ‘I remember when they built the dam.’” He holds onto photos families give him from the construction process, such as the one from Mark Jones’ family in 1987.
“It’s cool that we’re in a time where we can still hear those firsthand stories and how it impacted the community here,” Merritt said.
That includes the focus at the Johnson Branch Unit on the Jones Farm, which still has structures standing to this day built “over 100 years” ago, Merritt said.
“We’ve got video dialog with Old Man Jones, walking through the property with them, talking about how his family survived there for over 100 years,” Merritt said.
He spoke with reverence about the lake itself.
“ A lake of this size is really a monument to so much—the people who lived here before, the people who fought for it,” Merritt said. “Something like this doesn’t just happen. Ray Roberts, the first idea of it, you can trace back to the ‘70s. ... Obviously the driving force is water and trying to make sure we have sustainable water source for this growing population that we have around here.”
Dug out in the 1980s, Lake Ray Roberts opened to motorized boat usage on Jan.1, 1990.
On opening day, 600 boaters took advantage of the new lake, and fishing has been a draw since day one.
“Some people spent the night out here so they could be the first ones on the lake at 6 a.m.,” said Larry Hand, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department game warden, according to the Post-Signal archives.
The game wardens also were “making sure everyone has life jackets, running lights and associated equipment and registrations,” Hand said, from the jump.
The report from the Jan. 4, 1990, edition said “the focus was on boating, with fishing enthusiasts, duck hunters and tourists comprising the majority of the boaters. Hand said that although sailors had been on the lake this summer when the lake was open to nonmotorized boats, none were in evidence this wintery day, nor were there any water skiers braving the icy waters.”
The lake’s namesake, U.S. Rep. Ray Roberts, visited Pilot Point’s fourthgrade students and spoke about what having the body of water named for him meant.
“I think it’s the greatest monument a guy could have,” Roberts said during an interview following his talk with the students, according to the Post-Signal archives. “I never dreamed they would do it.”
He added that “they want it to be a bass lake equal to Lake Fork and the state is working on it.”
In 1993 the Isle du Bois Unit came online in the spring.
The first park superintendent and namesake for the paved walking trail at Isle du Bois, Randy Bell, shared the stats with the Post-Signal in March of 1993 about the opening days of the park, which saw an estimate of about 4,300 people come into IDB.
“Bell opened the park to day use at 8 a.m. Friday—the last day of winter— without fanfare. By the end of the day Tuesday, 1,241 cars had entered the park,” according to the March 25 is-
Several anglers toss their lines into the water surrounding the Lake Ray Roberts dam along FM 455 on Sunday. Abigail Bardwell/The Post-Signal
