John Redmond Reservoir is a reservoir on the Neosho River in eastern Kansas. Built and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, it is used for flood control, recreation, water supply, and wildlife management. It borders the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge to the northwest. History The Neosho River valley flooded more than 50 times in the 30 years leading up to 1950 when the U.S. Congress authorized the flood control project that later became John Redmond Dam and Reservoir. It was authorized and awaiting construction during the Great Flood of 1951 which inundated downtown Burlington and Strawn where some locations had floodwater deep. Originally, Congress authorized the project under the Flood Control Act of 1950 as Strawn Dam in reference to Strawn, the town located where the reservoir is today. Strawn was relocated to the east on higher ground and renamed New Strawn at the time the dam was constructed. In 1958, Congress renamed the project John Redmond Dam and Reservoir in honor of the late John Redmond, the publisher of the Burlington Daily Republican who had been a long-time advocate for flood control and water conservation along the Neosho River. Redmond had died in 1953. The design and construction of the project was conducted by the Tulsa District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at a total cost of $29,264,000. The dam began to undergo construction on June 18, 1959 and went into service on November 17, 1964, several weeks before final completion, in order to protect the Neosho River valley from the expected winter and spring floods. During the Great Flood of 1993, floodwaters reached up to the top of the dam's release gates. The reservoir reached capacity in July 1993, necessitating the first release of the spillway. Geography John Redmond Reservoir is located at (38.2250209, -95.7766537) at an elevation of . It lies east of the Flint Hills on the Osage Plains in east-central Kansas. The entirety of the reservoir lies within Coffey County. The reservoir is impounded at its southeastern end by John Redmond Dam. The Neosho River is both the reservoir's primary inflow from the northwest and outflow to the southeast. Smaller tributaries include Hickory Creek and Kennedy Creek from the north as well as Buffalo Creek and Otter Creek from the west. U.S. Route 75 runs generally north-south east of the reservoir. 12th Road, a paved county road, runs east-west south