The purpose of the dam is flood control, water supply, hydroelectric power production, river regulation, navigation and recreation.

[4] Completed in 1943 primarily as a flood control project, it was at the time the "largest rolled-earth fill dam in the world".

It produces roughly 250,000 megawatt hours of electricity per year, while Lake Texoma provides nearly 125,000 acre-feet (154,000,000 m3) of water storage for local communities under five permanent contracts.

In addition to two federally managed wildlife-refuge areas, Denison Dam has made possible 47 recreational areas managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, two state parks -- one in Oklahoma and one in Texas -- as well as 80,000 acres (32,000 ha) of open public land used for hunting.

They performed non-war-related work such as clearing trees, lining drainage ditches, and building a bathroom facility.