Belton and Temple wrangle over name of Leon River dam - Belton, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 31° 06.544 W 097° 28.352
14R E 645663 N 3442693
Spades slicing into parched dirt marked December 1948 and the start of one of the greatest construction projects in Central Texas, according to those who were there.
Waymark Code: WMR75F
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/20/2016
Views: 5
Killeen Daily Herald
Spades slicing into parched dirt marked December 1948 and the start of one of the greatest construction projects in Central Texas, according to those who were there.
Too bad nobody had a name for it.
An undercurrent to the pomp and merriment was a spirited rivalry between Temple and Belton over the name of this project.
Motorists looking for the winding riverside road leading to the dam site found two big signs. The marker erected by Belton read “Belton Dam Site.” On the Temple side, a sign proclaimed “Leon River Dam Site.”
So, what was the dam thing going to be called?
U.S. Rep. Bob Poage (1890-1987), who had championed the construction bills through Congress, straddled the middle, but he called it “the Leon River dam.”
The dam issue just wouldn’t go away. As the ceremony neared, officials from both cities wearied from the deadlock.
Under routine Army Corps of Engineers procedure, such works as the dam are designated by the name of the nearest rail point. In this case, that point was Belton.
The controversy simmered until 1950, when the chambers of commerce in Temple, Belton, Bryan, Cameron, Lampasas, Killeen, Moody and McGregor resolved to name the dam for U.S. Sen. Tom Connally (1877–1963), a native of McLennan County. The senator, however, refused, saying he didn’t think it was a good idea to encumber such structures with personalities while they were under construction.
Finally by spring 1954, when construction was completed, the dam name was resolved according to Corps protocol — Belton Dam on the Leon River.