Construction was carried out under the direction of Edward M. Burd, the head of civil engineering for Commonwealth Power Corporation, a subsidiary of Consumers. The dam and power plant are named for George E. Hardy, a financial partner with Anton Hodenpyl. Hardy and Hodenpyl (who also had a dam named after him) oversaw the Commonwealth & Southern Corporation holding company that Consumers Energy, was part of from 1910 through the 1920s.
