Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
What is the history of Ned Houk Park and its dam site?
Ned Houk Park is named for the long-deceased Clovis mayor and city commissioner known affectionately as “Mr. Ned.”
Houk was born in Missouri in 1882 and died in Clovis in 1968.
He was Clovis’ mayor from 1931 to 1933 and again from 1951 to 1953.
A Clovis News-Journal article about Houk’s death in May, 1968, mentioned his service on the Clovis city commission for 17 years. He has also been described as “a well-liked Clovis business owner who operated H&H Grocery in the 200 block of Main with Harry Highfill.”
In the book, “Curry County New Mexico,” the story of Ned Houk Park was given an entire page.
Consisting of 3,130 acres, the park is six miles north of Clovis.
Before it was named for Houk, the area was known as Running Water Draw.
According to the book, when the U.S. government began buying land for a conservation project there were 40 people who owned part of the land that is now Ned Houk Park.
A dam on Running Water Draw had been discussed as early as 1937. In 1938 a dam on the draw was discussed as one of many for an area of eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle for water conservation and flood control.
World War II interfered with plans for a dam. Then in 1954, the U.S. government turned the acreage over to the city of Clovis.
In July 1960, there was a catastrophic flooding event in Plainview, Texas, resulting in over $1 million in damage.
In 1962, the Hale County, Texas, Soil Conservation District began considering flood protection dams to be built upstream from Plainview.
Agreement to build the Ned Houk Park dam was made in the summer of 1974.
Clovis-based Smith & Pittman Construction built the dam for $794,230.
There are estimates that if a torrential rain flooded the lakebed behind the dam it would cover 235 acres.
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