Oldest Dams in Kansas

Kansas has 4481 dams with recorded construction dates. The oldest dates to 1860 — 166 years ago. Kansas's earliest dams were built in the 19th century, an era of westward expansion, irrigation development, and early water infrastructure. Older dams require particular attention for safety, as many were built before modern engineering standards.

#	Dam	County	Year Built	Age	Height (ft)	Hazard	Condition
1	Merritt Lake	Leavenworth	1860	166 yrs	25	Low	Poor
2	North Frisco Dam	Johnson	1868	158 yrs	21	High	Satisfactory
3	South Frisco	Johnson	1868	158 yrs	22	High	Poor
4	Expanded Kansas River Hydropower	Douglas	1874	152 yrs	12	Low	Fair
5	Lake Mckinney Dam	Kearny	1890	136 yrs	37	High	Fair
6	Santa Fe Lake Dam	Elk	1895	131 yrs	25	Significant	Poor
7		Chase	1900	126 yrs	15	Low	Not assessed
8		Marion	1900	126 yrs	28	Low	Not assessed
9		Montgomery	1900	126 yrs	15	Low	Not assessed
10	Lower West Lake Dam	Linn	1904	122 yrs	14	High	Fair
11	Lowell Power Plant Spillway	Cherokee	1905	121 yrs	31	Low	Not assessed
12		Allen	1908	118 yrs	40	Low	Not assessed
13		Johnson	1910	116 yrs	20	Low	Not assessed
14	Rocky Pond Dam	Republic	1910	116 yrs	28	Significant	Fair
15		Wyandotte	1910	116 yrs	26	Low	Not assessed
16		Montgomery	1911	115 yrs	25	Low	Not assessed
17	Santa Fe Lake	Neosho	1911	115 yrs	20	Low	Not assessed
18	Mildred Lake Dam	Allen	1916	110 yrs	45	Low	Not assessed
19	Welda Lake	Anderson	1916	110 yrs	45	Low	Not assessed
20	Rock Creek Dam	Bourbon	1920	106 yrs	15	Significant	Poor
21	Waterworks Dam	Johnson	1920	106 yrs	9	High	Not assessed
22	Barton County Club Dam	Barton	1922	104 yrs	39	High	Not assessed
23	Lake Herington	Dickinson	1923	103 yrs	40	High	Poor
24	Mission Lake	Brown	1924	102 yrs	36	High	Poor
25	Idle Hour Lake	Labette	1925	101 yrs	14	Low	Not assessed
26	Lake Larrabee	Meade	1926	100 yrs	32	Low	Not assessed
27		Neosho	1926	100 yrs	38	Low	Not assessed
28	Lake Scott Dam	Scott	1926	100 yrs	33	Low	Not assessed
29	Santa Fe Lake Dam	Butler	1927	99 yrs	38	High	Poor
30	Ottawa State Fishing Lake	Ottawa	1927	99 yrs	34	High	Poor
31	Fox Lake Dam	Butler	1928	98 yrs	33	High	Satisfactory
32		Jewell	1928	98 yrs	13	Low	Not assessed
33	Yeager Lakes Dam	Kingman	1929	97 yrs	22	High	Fair
34	Moline Middle City Lake	Elk	1930	96 yrs	21	Low	Not assessed
35		Osborne	1930	96 yrs	15	Low	Not assessed
36		Phillips	1930	96 yrs	15	Low	Not assessed
37	Cedar Lake (old Olathe Lake)	Johnson	1931	95 yrs	39	High	Poor
38	Kingman County State Lake	Kingman	1931	95 yrs	16	Low	Not assessed
39		Osborne	1931	95 yrs	20	Low	Not assessed
40		Smith	1931	95 yrs	18	Low	Not assessed
41	Pottawatomie State Lake No 1	Pottawatomie	1932	94 yrs	51	High	Fair
42		Smith	1932	94 yrs	17	Low	Not assessed
43		Brown	1933	93 yrs	28	Low	Not assessed
44		Butler	1933	93 yrs	18	Low	Not assessed
45		Harper	1933	93 yrs	16	Low	Not assessed
46	Lyon County State Fishing Lake	Lyon	1933	93 yrs	55	Low	Not assessed
47		Osborne	1933	93 yrs	19	Low	Not assessed
48	Woodson County State Fishing Lake	Woodson	1933	93 yrs	65	Low	Not assessed
49	Clark State Fishing Lake	Clark	1934	92 yrs	75	Low	Not assessed
50		Finney	1934	92 yrs	58	Low	Not assessed

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