Counties in the northeastern United States in which large water resource development projects constructed between 1948 and 1958 were examined to determine whether the projects stimulated economic growth. A growth index was developed for use as a dependent variable, which was then tested for its relationship with several independent variables by regression and discriminant analyses. Selected nonproject counties were examined to check further the relationship between the independent variables and growth index. Counties with high growth indices and development projects were found to be near urban areas, whereas counties with low growth indices and no projects were in rural areas. A subsample of rural project and nonproject counties was examined; it showed no significant relationship to the growth index. From these findings we infer that water resource development projects are likely to be poor tools for accelerating economic growth of rural counties in the northeastern United States.