Meadow Park Lake was built as a necessity to provide water for the City of Crossville. Prior to building the lake city residents and businesses were supplied with water from a well at the old canning plant and then from the Hotel Taylor well. At this time the city was pumping around 14000 gallons per day.
January 1937 T.M. Rector, L. T. Thurman and Moses E. Dorton signed papers with the government to build the Meadow Creek Falls Dam. The city was to supply the land and pay 10% of the cost of materials. WPA was to supply the labor and remainder of the cost of the materials for the project. Work on the project started in March of 1937. In 1938 a contest was done to name the new lake. Commissioners Rector, Thurman, and Dorton along with H.I. Bilbrey, Mrs. W.F. Bandy and S. C. Bishop made up the committee to select the winning name. Highland Lake, Lake Crossville, Meadow Falls Lake, and Meadow Park Lake were the final four names. The latter was chosen due to an effort to convert the surrounding area into a recreational park. The winning entry was made by Laverne Tabor. Mrs. Tabor received ten dollars from the city. June 25, 1939 a dedication for Meadow Park Lake was done, with 15,000 attending the ceremony and boat races. Judge George L. Burnett was the master of ceremonies, and Mayor T. M. Rector gave the welcome address. Other speakers included Moses E. Dorton, M. S. Roberts from the firm of Freeland and Roberts and Congressman Albert Gore.
Meadow Park Lake is approximately 269 surface acres. Depths range from two to twenty-four feet. The lake has large mouth bass, catfish, crappie, and bream along with many other aquatic species. Meadow Park has over twenty-two hundred acres of mostly forrested land abundant with wildlife.
