On October 19, 1953, Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States and Adolfo Ruiz Cortines of Mexico dedicated Falcón (Falcon) Dam and Falcon International Reservoir. The dam impounded a lake about 28 miles long and up to 11 miles wide along the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo del Norte, the international boundary between the Republic of Mexico and the United States of America. The men stood together to celebrate the unprecidented collaboration between two nations to provide irrigation, power, flood control and recreational areas for their citizens. Construction on the dam concluded in 1954. The engineering feat was the culmination of plans ordered by U.S. President Calvin Coolidge in 1924 after he instructed the U.S. Congress to appoint representatives to explore mutual international uses of the Rio Grande. A 1944 treaty provided for the two governments to jointly construct, operate and maintain dams for conservation, storage and regulation of waters In order to complete the project, the United States government moved numerous residents and inundated the historic communities of Zapata, Ramireño, Uribeño, Lopeño, and Falcón in the United States, as well as Guerrero, Tamaulipas, in Mexico. New communities carrying the historic names were established in Zapata County along US 83. In August 1953, heavy rainfall flooded the lake and filled the reservoir. Some families had already moved, and those remaining were forced to evacuate. Families moved from the river bank inland and to other communities. Today, Falcon Dam and International Reservoir continue to function as they were designed to do in the midst of a changed cultural landscape.