Shady Shores, Texas

Fishing Camp to Thriving Suburb

The town of Shady Shores is a small suburban bedroom community of Dallas, Texas in Denton County on the shores of Lewisville Lake.

During the 1920s, the population of Dallas grew and with that growth, the need for water and flood protection also grew. To meet the needs of its growing population, the city created a plan to construct a dam of the Elm Fork of the Trinity River in Denton County. In 1928, the City of Dallas began construction of the lake, which was named Lake Dallas. The newly created lake was nine miles long and three miles wide and was the main source of water for Dallas for the next 30 years.

The newly built lake created business opportunities, and shortly after the lake was completed, John William Franck, a Dallas contractor, created a fishing camp on the north side of Lake Dallas that had approximately 10 wood cabins. The camp was promoted as a weekend fishing retreat for Dallas residents. In the 1930s, many of the wood cabins were torn down and replaced with residential dwellings.

The area continued to thrive and as part of the continued growth, a new residential subdivision was developed that was named Shady Shores. The development was a great success and the population in the area continued to increase. As the population in the Dallas area surged, so did the need for water, so in the late 1950s, Lake Dallas was enlarged and renamed Lewisville Lake. In 1960, the community leaders officially incorporated and the new town was named Shady Shores. As Dallas grows, so do its suburbs and by 1980, Shady Shores had over 800 residents, and by 2000, that increased to 1,400 residents.

Today, the Town of Shady Shores is a quiet suburb that covers 2.9 square miles and has approximately 2,800 residents.