Wichita County Water Improvement District No. 2

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Wichita County Water Improvement District No. 2. Now settle in, because this is a story about big dreams, big water, and the kind of men who figured they could shape the land itself to their will. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with one man who couldn't stop thinking about what a place could become.

By 1900, a fellow named Joseph Kemp, a man whose business activities were described as vital to the growth of Wichita Falls, had already started developing plans for irrigation. Those plans led to the construction of Lake Wichita. One lake, and the man was just getting warmed up.

By 1914, Kemp and his brother-in-law Frank Kell filed a plat for irrigation subdivisions. The two of them had a vision: agriculture would become the backbone of Wichita County's economy. They were so committed to that idea, they held onto it even after oil came booming into the picture.

That is a particular kind of stubbornness. The good kind. In 1919, Water Improvement District No. 1 organized.

Fifteen thousand, five hundred and forty-three acres, taking in all of Wichita Falls and the lands to the north, south, and east. The very next year, 1920, District No. 2 formed, and this one was even bigger, encompassing seventy-six thousand, seven hundred and eighty-four acres stretching west and northeast of the city. Now under Kemp's leadership, two large reservoirs got built between 1921 and 1924.

Lake Kemp and Lake Diversion, tied together by a gravity irrigation system. A gravity system. No pumps doing the heavy lifting, just the earth's own pull moving water where it needed to go.

When that system was completed, it provided water for irrigation and municipal purposes, and it gave the city of Wichita Falls something it badly needed: a means of flood control against the periodic flooding of the Wichita River. Here is the part that makes you stop and appreciate the engineering of the arrangement. District No. 2 and District No. 1 were co-owned and operated on the same system, but two different boards governed them using different revenue sources.

Two outfits, one water. That partnership held until 1961, when the city of Wichita Falls abolished District No. 1 by annexing its lands, taking control of its assets and liabilities, and assuming performance of its functions and services. District No. 1 was folded into the city itself.

Now, Kemp and Kell's dream of a major agricultural economy never quite took root the way they'd hoped. The oil boom came, and the land had other ideas. But here is the thing about good infrastructure: it outlasts the dream that built it.

Water Improvement District No. 2 is still out there, still providing an important source of water for municipal use to the city's reverse osmosis plant, still playing a vital role in irrigation, and still standing guard against the flooding of the Wichita River. The dream shifted shape. The water kept flowing.

What the marker says

Wichita County Water Improvement Districts No. 1 and No. 2 played major roles in the agricultural development of Wichita County. By 1900, Joseph Kemp, whose business activities were vital for the growth of Wichita Falls, developed plans for irrigation, leading to the construction of Lake Wichita. By 1914, Kemp and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell, filed a plat for irrigation subdivisions. They hoped agriculture would become the backbone of Wichita County's economy, even after the area later experienced an oil boom.In 1919, Water Improvement District No. 1 organized, consisting of 15,543 acres including all of Wichita Falls and areas to the north, south and east. In 1920, District No. 2 formed, encompassing 76,784 acres west and northeast of the city. Under the leadership of Kemp, Lake Kemp and Lake Diversion, two large reservoirs with a gravity irrigation system, were constructed between 1921 and 1924. The completed system provided water for irrigation and municipal purposes, as well as a means of flood control for the city of Wichita Falls from periodic flooding of the Wichita River.Although co-owned and operated on the same system by District No. 2, two different boards governed the district using different revenue sources. in 1961, the city of Whichita Falls abolished Disctrict No. 1 by annexing its lands, taking conrol of its assets and liabilites, and assuming performance if its functions and services. Even though a major agricultural ecnomy never developed in Wichita County, Water Improvement District No. 2 provides an important source of water for minicpal use to the cty's erverse osmosis plant and continues to play a vital role in irrigation and flood control. (2008)