The Miami Conservancy District (MCD) flood protection system is ingeniously simple. The drainage patterns of the entire Great Miami River Watershed are incorporated into its design. The dams and levees operate without human intervention and have no moving parts, except floodgates on storm sewers along the levees.
MCD's flood-protection system was the first of its kind. It was designed to use five dry dams, meaning the dams are used only to hold back floodwaters after heavy rainfall. The remainder of the time, the land behind the dams – 35,650 acres – is used predominantly for parkland and farmland.
Taylorsville Dam is an earthen embankment located across the Great Miami River in northern Montgomery County near the City of Vandalia. U.S. 40 goes across the top of the dam. Construction of the dam began in February of 1918 and was completed in November of 1921.
