The lake is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Huntington District, as part of a series of flood control projects for the Ohio River basin.

Construction occurred about 1969[4]-1970 with the intended purposes of flood control, recreation, and fish and wildlife management.

[1] Construction of the lake resulted in the destruction of the town of Stiltner at the mouth of Brush Creek.

It also required the relocation of a large stretch of West Virginia Route 37, which formerly followed the East Fork Twelvepole Creek valley that was inundated by the lake.

Multiple West Virginia stage record fish were caught along the East Lynn Lake.