DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna let it breathe a little. The Northern Texas Traction Company built the original plant right here at this location: built it to generate electrical power for the Fort Worth-Dallas Interurban. That railroad needed juice, and this plant was the answer.
To keep the whole operation running, it drew its water from Lake Erie. Now that's a name that'll make you do a double take out here in Tarrant County, but there it is. Lake Erie, right here in North Texas.
The area around that lake didn't just sit there lookin' pretty, either. It developed into a park, a real destination, the kind of place folks made a point of getting to. Local outings, social events, the whole spread.
And the crown jewel of the thing was a two-story auditorium that extended right out over the edge of the lake. Think about that for a second. Music, laughter, the whole scene hovering over the water.
But here's the thing about a place built around a railroad running between two cities: when interurban traffic declined, the park was closed. Just like that, the good times packed up. The power plant, though, that kept going.
More than kept going. It was expanded to meet increased electrical demands. The operation grew even as the park it once anchored faded into memory.
Then in 1956, Lake Arlington became the new source of water for the Handley Plant. And Lake Erie, that little Texas lake with the big northern name, the one that once lapped underneath a two-story auditorium full of people having the time of their lives, was drained. Some lakes dry up on their own.
This one got a date.
What the marker says
The Northern Texas Traction Company built the original plant at this location to generate electrical power for the Fort Worth-Dallas Interurban. Lake Erie provided water for plant operations. The area developed as a park and became popular for local outings and social events. A two-story auditorium extended over the edge of the lake. When interurban traffic declined the park was closed. The power plant was expanded to meet increased electrical demands. In 1956 Lake Arlington became the new source of water for the Handley Plant, and Lake Erie was drained. (1980)