Lake Murray (Oklahoma)
lake of the United States of America
Lake Murray is a 5,700-acre (23 km2) lake in south central Oklahoma, near Ardmore named for Oklahoma Governor William H. Murray. It was created by damming Anadarche and Fourche Maline Creeks. The lake is wholly within Lake Murray State Park, Oklahoma's largest state park, containing over 12,500 acres (51 km2) of relative wilderness. A state-operated lodge and resort is located on the west shore that serves many visitors to the lake, and serves as a base for numerous cabin and campground facilities near the lake.
On October 12, 2001, Lake Murray State Park became the first Oklahoma state park listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Park history
According to Ada Evening News, the concept of creating a lake at this location surfaced in 1929, when George C. Gibbons, the secretary of the Ada Chamber of Commerce, inspected the area. He contacted the U. S. Biological Survey, which assigned an engineer and a biologist to perform a preliminary study for creating a wildlife refuge that included a lake for waterfowl habitat. Senator Elmer Thomas also became interested in the proposal. Thomas worked to get congressional approval of $250,000 for the project. However, the Biological Survey failed to complete its report before Congress adjourned.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Lake Murray (Oklahoma)” as lake of the United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as lake of the United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6477033. Authority coordinates are 34.050, -97.072. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001 and 1929.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lake Murray (Oklahoma)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lake Murray (Oklahoma) primary sources, Lake Murray (Oklahoma) archive and Lake research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lake Murray (Oklahoma)”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lake Murray (Oklahoma)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.