Reed's Lake

Reed's Lake was in Bell County in what was the Maximo Moreno eleven-league grant, five miles west of Rogers on State Highway 36 and two miles southwest of Little River Academy near Farm Road 93. It was named in 1847 when John Burnett Reed of Mississippi built his log house on the bank of a buffalo wallow and named it Reed's Lake. The lake was well-known to White settlers including Reed's father, Michael Reed, and other members of the Reed family by 1834. Before that it had been a landmark for Indians for many years. Reed's Lake is near the Little River, and tradition that the lake was formed from a buffalo wallow when Little River overflowed regularly was confirmed by Charles O. Reed, Jr., a descendant of John Burnett Reed. The land has rolling hills and deep draws, and for centuries Little River apparently regularly overflowed and flooded the valley, leaving the lake in its wake. Little River flooding was controlled in the 1950s with the construction of dams on the Leon and Lampasas rivers and Nolan, Big Elm, and Little Elm creeks. John Burnett Reed and his father, with other family members, received land grants in 1834 in what became the Little River area of Bell County. Reed visited the area several times-including assisting in theRunaway Scrape -but did not locate on his grant permanently until 1847. In the early years there was a gin on the bank of the lake and a school nearby. Residents of Reed's Lake organized and financially supported the school, which was named Burgess after one of the organizers. The school later consolidated with Academy School District. The town began to decline after the turn of the century and by 1936 no longer appeared on state highway maps. In 1989 only Reed's Lake Cemetery and the lake remained.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.