The dam was originally named after Frank Kerr, president of the Montana Power Company, which undertook the construction, with federal assistance during the Great Depression.

The dam is located within the Flathead Indian Reservation, and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes operated it jointly with successive electric companies.

Roosevelt approved the money for the project; this was in keeping with his support of the Works Progress Administration and Civilian Conservation Corps, which provided jobs for infrastructure and public buildings across the country.

In March 1937 Senators Burton K. Wheeler, Lynn Frazier and Robert La Follette blocked a bill that would have denied tribal ownership of the dam.

On September 4, 2015, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) paid $18.2 million to purchase the Kerr Hydroelectric Project from NorthWestern Energy.

[12] The plot of the novel Wind from an Enemy Sky by D'Arcy McNickle is centered around the construction of the Seli’š Ksanka Qlispe' Dam.