Extreme floods in the first half of the 20th century, especially in 1929 and 1935, devastated Downtown Houston and resulted in a number of federally-funded flood control projects in the upper reaches of the watershed. The Texas Legislature created the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) in 1937, and by the end of the 1930s, over $35 million ($ million in 2016 dollars) of federal, state, and county funds had been earmarked for an extensive drainage program. In then-rural western Harris County, the United States Army Corps of Engineers constructed Barker Reservoir, completed in 1945, and Addicks Reservoir, completed in 1948. Combined, these reservoirs provide of runoff storage, which has largely prevented downstream flood events. Six miles of Buffalo Bayou between present-day Highway 6 and Beltway 8 was channelized during the construction of the reservoirs. Later, between 1953 and 1958, the stretch between Shepherd Drive and Sabine Street west of Downtown was also straightened. The length of bayou between these two channelized sections, which largely runs through the Memorial Villages, has remained in its natural, meandering state.
