[2][3] Lake construction was completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers in November 1965 and was created for municipal water supply, flood control, and recreation.

[4][8] Lake Bardwell was built to provide flood control and water conservation for surrounding towns, and it receives runoff from 178 square miles of drainage.

It has a capacity of about 326,000 gallons, and a flood-control pool that allows the lake to prevent flood damage to surrounding towns and wildlife areas by only letting out as much water as creeks downstream can support.

The Secretary of the Army approved a contract on Jun 24th, 1963, allowing the Trinity River Authority to use 25% of the lake's conservation storage space as water supply for the city of Ennis.

This agreement was later supplemented in October 1969, allowing 60% of the water conservation pool to be allocated to Ennis, and 40% to Waxahachie.

[5] On April 16, 2020, all recreation areas, including multiuse trails, of Lake Bardwell were closed due to COVID-19.

[7] Lake Bardwell opens to the public at 6:00 am and closes at 10:00 pm, visitors leaving after 10:00 are not allowed to re-enter with a vehicle, but may park outside and walk back to their site.

This includes but is not limited to bounce houses, water slides, weddings, tournaments, bands, DJs, church function, etc.

[15] Crappie are usually caught at either the Highview Marina, under the Highway 34 bridge, or in Waxahachie and Mustang Creeks during spawning.

The Highview Marina declared it the biggest fish caught at Lake Bardwell, stating it weighed 10.802 lb, and was 24 and 1/2 inches long.

The Dallas County medical examiner's office stated that the cause of death was an accidental drowning while on a fishing trip.

[20] Game warden Jeff Powell and the sheriff's deputy went to the lake on the morning of December 16, and were called by a resident who said he spotted something in the water.

[24] The lake offers a flat main trail, with numerous loops into surrounding meadows, croplands, and bottomland hardwood forest along Waxahachie Creek.

[25] The Waxahachie Trail is a dense upper canopy of bottomland hardwood trees, which covers most of the journey.

Many species of birds visit the lake, such as ducks, herons, egrets, songbirds, hawks, and cormorants.

In the woods section of the Buffalo Creek Wetland trail, visitors may find many woodland species such as downy and red-bellied woodpeckers and barred owls.