- City:
- Muscle Shoals, AL
- Site Type:
- Dams, Infrastructure and Utilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), Conservation and Public Lands
- Started:
- 1933
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
Wilson Dam was completed in 1924. It is “the largest conventional hydroelectric power-generating facility in the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) system…
When Roosevelt inspected [dam] in January 1933, he related that he was impressed with the size of the operation and found it twice as large as he had imagined. He also stated that he wanted to put the facility to work for the good of the region, its people, and future generations. Roosevelt ended the controversy over the future use of the properties at Muscle Shoals in May 1933, when he backed Norris’ plan as part of his New Deal program to revitalize the economy and signed a bill creating the Tennessee Valley Authority, the independent agency of the federal government charged with the unified development of all the resources of the Tennessee Valley. TVA converted the long-idle nitrate plants to fertilizer research and production, and Wilson Dam became the cornerstone of TVA’s overall plan for development of the entire Tennessee River…
Wilson is one of 29 conventional hydroelectric dams that provide flood control, navigation, electrical power, recreation, and water supply for the seven-state Tennessee Valley region.” (www.encyclopediaofalabama.org)
Source notes
https://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-3268Contribute to this Site
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.
Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site
Join the Conversation