Exploring Red Lake: History and Attractions in Freestone County
Published: August 26, 2004
The area of Red Lake is located on U.S. Highway 84 about twelve miles east of Fairfield in eastern Freestone County. In 1927 Freestone County resident Reuben S. Red purchased land along Jelly Slough (also referred to as Old Jolly Cole Slough). He constructed an earthen dam and created a 200-acre reservoir known as Red's Lake. Eventually the region was identified as simply Red Lake, and Reuben Red ran a fishing camp and store there until 1937. Red built another lake, a seventy-acre reservoir on the other side of U.S. 84, in 1947. Red died in 1956, and his widow built a third lake consisting of thirty acres in the early 1960s. In the 1970s county maps showed three lakes—Little Red Lake, Red Lake, and Burleson Lake—and a school and church in the vicinity. No population figures were available in 2000.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Laurie E. Jasinski, “Red Lake, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/red-lake-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HRR87
- August 26, 2004
