Forrest
C. Pogue Public History InstituteForrest
C. Pogue Public History InstituteGeneral
Temporary Houses
Permanent Houses
Auditorium
Gift Shop
Park Office
Recreation Building
Negro Village Site
Kentucky Dam Village is an aproximately 3400 acre district located off U.S. Highway 641 in Gilbertsville, KY. The district is currently part of Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park. However, it was originally constructed as a worker village for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Kentucky Dam Project. The construction of most of the village took place between 1938-1939, and it was occupied by TVA from construction to its transfer to the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1949. The main construction of Kentucky Dam itself was completed in 1945, after which the village housed operators and full-time personnel of the Dam for several years. The village is located to the immediate Southwest of the Dam, which still functions as part of TVA's electrical system today.
The historic district is composed of some 45 houses, 34 of which were moved in from a previous TVA Dam construction project and intended as temporary housing. Eleven were constructed on site by TVA and intended as permanent housing. These houses are currently rented out by the park for visitors and for park personnel. Also in the historic district is the park office (originally the Community Center), the recreation building (originally the camp office and fire station), the village gift shop (originally the personnel office), the village auditorium (currently unoccupied), and the village water tower.
The district is arranged in two basic sections. The housing area of the village, consisting of the temporary and permanent houses, is arranged in curvilinear fashion. To the Northeast of the housing section is the administrative circle, consisting of the auditorium, the park office, the gift shop, and the recreation building. In the village's historic period, this area represented the heart of the camp, and still does to a large extent. The spatial relationship of the buildings is essentially the same as it was during the village's historic period, though a number of buildings and structures were removed or destroyed after Kentucky Dam's construction.
The village also originally contained several worker dormitories, a mess hall, a hospital with nurse s quarters, a number of additional temporary houses, and a segregated Negro Village. Each of these has been destroyed or removed since the historic period. The village also had a village school, which was destroyed by fire around 1957 (a new school was later constructed on the original site). But most of these buildings were on the Northwestern edge of the original village and, hence, do not greatly effect the spatial relationship of the current sections. The Negro Village site will be enumerated as a historic site within the district.
In general, the buildings which comprise this district have seen a variety of alterations since the district's historic period. Most of these alterations have involved building upkeep, with occasional remodeling work aimed at improving the original construction work and maintaining an ascethically pleasing appearance for tourists.
Some of this work was necessary to compensate for original construction flaws. TVA constructed many of these buildings with the objective of preparing them for use as quickly as possible (the Dam construction was on a tight schedule and worker housing and offices were needed as soon as possible). The resulting construction was often imperfect and hence has required additional remodeling over the years. Furthermore, the temporary houses were only designed for an effective lifespan of 25 years, a lifespan far exceeded by these houses today.
Most of the renovation has consisted of significant interior modification. But most of the work done to the exterior of these buildings was much less extreme, though, in almost all cases, new siding and modern windows were added. Most of these renovations were done on a case-by-case basis, however, and will be discussed in more detail in the individual building descriptions. Many buildings and structures, such as the water tower and the gift shop have seen only relatively minor alterations, while others, such as some of the houses and the camp office, have seen more substantial renovations.
The district also contains several noncontributing resources, including the Village Green building, the Village Green Meeting Room, the Village Pro Shop and golf course, several maintenance buildings, a construction supervisor trailer, and the old Gilbertsville Grade School (reconstructed over the site of the original village school, which burned around 1957). However, most of these buildings are on the fringes of the district and do not significantly effect the spatial relationship of the historic buildings in the district.
The 34 temporary houses in the district were originally barged into the village by TVA from the Pickwick Landing Dam construction site from 1938-1939 . These houses are very basic two and three bedroom, wood frame, ranch-style houses with simple layouts. The exterior siding of these houses varies somewhat. Some have shiplap siding, some clapboard, and some of the more recently renovated houses have board and batten siding (board and batten has become the more standard siding for KY Dam Village structures recently, evident in the other buildings to be discussed). The roofs of these houses are generally cross gable with asphalt shingles. Many of these houses maintain their original brick pier foundations on concrete footings, others have new, solid concrete foundations They range in size from approximately. 550-1000 square feet.
These houses represent the mostly eclectic group of buildings in the district, primarily because they are in widely varying states of renovation. Many of these houses have hardly been touched since the historic period, still possessing original clapboard siding and historic windows. Some have seen extensive renovation, with new windows, newer board and batten siding, and extensive interior renovation. A handful have seen even further renovation, with their appearance and physical structure being significantly altered from their original, simple, ranch designs to more modern designs.
The great deal of renovation that some of these houses have seen has largely been due to practical problems with their original construction. The lifespan of these houses was originally estimated at only 25 years by TVA authorities. This short expected lifespan often meant cheap and shoddy craftsmanship in construction, necessitating a number of renovations over the years since the houses original construction in 1935. Additionally, many of the original temporary houses were removed by TVA after Dam completion. There were originally 59 temporary houses in the white village, now only 34 remain.
These houses are arranged together around a large circular road in the Southwestern portion of the district.
There are eleven permanent houses in the district. These houses were constructed in 1939-1940, intended for occupation by high ranking TVA employees during the construction of the Dam. These houses are all ranch-style dwellings with attached garages. Generally, each house has 2-3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a garage. They each have a wood frame, with most on original concrete pier foundations (some have newer, solid concrete foundations) They feature clapboard siding and single gable, asphalt shingle roofs. They range in size from approximately. 1000-1500 square feet.
The permanent houses at Kentucky Dam Village have been thoroughly renovated over the years since their construction but maintain much of their historical appearance. Aside from modern windows and new siding (the original siding was fiberboard), these houses look much the same as they did during the district s historical period. They maintain the same spatial relationship with one another as during the historical period and all of them are intact, none having been removed or destroyed. Only one of the houses has seen complete interior renovation, with most of the permanent houses maintaining their original interior layouts.
The permanent houses are arranged together in linear fashion on a road just above the temporary housing in the Southwestern portion of the district.
In the midst of the permanent houses is the village water tower. Constructed in 1938, this steel water tower features a tank with an approximate 100,000 gallon storage capacity. The tower stands on a small knoll between two of the permanent houses. The tank has seen very little if any renovation since its historical period and maintains its historical appearance and integrity.
The auditorium at Kentucky Dam village was constructed in 1939-1940. It originally functioned as an auditorium for dam workers. The auditorium had a seating capacity of 400 and could be used for movies, basketball, and for other sports and entertainment purposes. The building is currently used for storage. The one story building has a structural steel frame with a reinforced concrete foundation. It currently has board and batten siding (originally, it had fiberboard siding). The building itself measures approximately 5,000 square ft (with basement). The roof is multiple gable with asphalt shingling.
The Auditorium is one of the most significantly altered of the buildings at Kentucky Dam. New siding has covered all of its historic windows, it s chimney has been removed, it s original main entrance has been replaced and another entrance covered over. And its exterior cooling vents have all been covered. Its interior is in a dilapidated condition.
The auditorium is located adjacent to the southern side of the administrative circle portion of the district. It is to the immediate southeast of the park office.
The Kentucky Dam Village gift shop was originally TVA s Kentucky Dam personnel office. It was constructed in 1938 and was one of the first buildings finished on the site. At the center of the administrative circle portion of the district, located between the park office and the recreation building, the building was obviously intended as the village showpiece. The gift shop is the most architecturally striking and the most historically intact building in the district. With a modest front colonnade consisting of 8 flat columns, the building demonstrates a Greek revival influence. The building is 1« stories. It features a single gable, asphalt shingle roof. It is of wood frame construction with brick foundation. It has board and batten siding (originally brick veneer) and measures approximately 4,000 square feet. Its six front windows are decorative bay windows (it is not clear if these windows were present during its historical period).
The gift shop is perhaps the most historically intact building in the district. Though it siding has changed and its interior has been remodeled from offices into a gift shop, the building retains it historical appearance well. The building maintains most of its historic windows and exterior detail, and the entrance remains virtually unchanged from TVA era occupation.
The park office originally served as the community building of Kentucky Dam Village. Currently it serves as the park office and also houses several specialty shops. The building is one story, measuring approximately 5,000 square feet. The roof is single gable with asphalt shingling. The siding is board and batten (originally brick veneer and fiberboard). It has a wood frame superstructure with brick foundation. The building features a historic era fireplace and brick chimney on its eastern side.
Like the auditorium, the park office has seen significant alteration since its historic period. All of the windows extant in the building are modern windows and new siding has been added, covering over the original materials. But perhaps the most significant alteration involves the remodeling that was done to parcel the building off into specialty shops. Several doors were added to the front of the building for this purpose, and a number of original windows were removed. The original entrance has been altered with a modern door and windows, and a large concrete patio has been added to the front of the building, obscuring much of its original detail. The interior of the building--once consisting of a large lounge area with a commissary, drugstore, and library-- has been parceled off and remodeled significantly, leaving little intact of the original interior. Like all of the administrative circle buildings, the park office's original metal roof has been replaced by asphalt shingling.
The park office is located on the Southern side of the administrative circle, immediately south of the gift shop.
The Kentucky Dam Village recreation building was originally the camp office, public safety office, barber shop, and fire station for Kentucky Dam Village during the Dam construction period. Now it serves as the park recreation office and as the park post office. The building is a wood frame structure with a brick foundation. The exterior siding of the building is board and batten (originally fiberboard and brick). The roof is single gabled with asphalt shingling. The building measures approximately 4,500 square feet.
The Recreation building has seen moderate alteration. Many of it s historic windows have been replaced with modern ones or covered, its interior has seen significant alteration, the roof has been changed from metal covering to asphalt shingling, and its siding has been changed from fiberboard and brick to board and batten. It does, however, maintain many of its original structural features. Most vents, doorways, and windows are still extant in their original locations, the shape and landscaping of the building remain essentially unchanged from its historic period, and its original entrance, though altered with a modern door and new siding, is still extant.
The recreation building is located in the administrative circle to the immediate north of the gift shop.
The Negro Village Site is currently an unused field located in the Northwestern corner of the district. During the historic period, however, this site was the location of Kentucky Dam s segregated Negro Village. The village consisted of 13 temporary houses of similar design to the white temporary houses, six temporary duplex houses, a Negro recreation building, two Negro dormitories, and a Negro school. The temporary houses were constructed by black craftsmen at Pickwick Landing Dam and barged downstream in 1938 to Kentucky Dam. The other buildings were constructed on site, with the exception of the Negro school, which was a renovated local farmhouse. The buildings were arranged in a linear fashion and isolated from the rest of the village, corresponding with TVA s segregation policy.
The buildings of the Negro Village were removed or destroyed shortly after construction of the Dam, leaving nothing behind except an empty field (though it may still retain value as an archeological site, making it eligible under criterion D as well as A). Only the black school remains in the district, having been moved into the main village and completely remodeled. It is now used for park employee housing, and is unrecognizable as a historic structure. The destruction of the Negro Village has a historic significance all its own, which will be discussed in the Statement of Significance.
The Kentucky Dam Village district is historically significant under National Register criterion A primarily due to its association with TVA s Kentucky Dam project. The mammoth influence that Kentucky Dam, its construction, and resulting industrial development, rural electrification and river navigability have had on western Kentucky and northwestern Tennessee are hard to exaggerate. The village itself physically illustrates the large nature of the project, the reality of the New Deal racial policy, and the modernizing process of TVA in rural western Kentucky. It still stands today as a visible symbol of both the potential of government social action and of its practical shortcomings.
The history of Kentucky Dam Village begins in 1930 with the publication of a Corps of Engineers report which attempted to advance a possible solution to navigation problems on the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River had been recognized for many years as a potentially powerful resource to an area which was infamous for its overland transportation difficulties. The Tennessee Valley, while rich in resources such as coal and timber, was handicapped by its mountainous topography which made overland transportation difficult and expensive. The Tennessee River, however ran through the heart of the region and linked several urban centers (such as Knoxville; Chattanooga; and Paducah, Kentucky) with the rural countryside. Thus its potential was very promising.
Unfortunately, the Tennessee River proved to be a serious transportation obstacle itself. The river was often very treacherous to navigate. Many sections of the river shrunk to depths of as low as one foot during certain seasons, rapids were frequent on the river, and the Muscle Shoals in Alabama were a legendary problem for boats. In short, navigation of the Tennessee River was virtually impossible for any significant distance. What was needed was a way to overcome the navigation problem, thereby making the whole of the river navigable from Knoxville to Paducah and opening up the region to industrial development.
The first step in this process came during World War One in Sheffield, Alabama. The U.S. government was in need of nitrates for explosives in the War. Engineers proposed that a dam be constructed to power a nitrate plant for such manufacture. The site chosen was Sheffield, Alabama, chosen because not only would a dam there provide the needed power for nitrate manufacture, but also because the resulting lake would flood the infamous Muscle Shoals, making the Tennessee much more navigable. A firestorm of controversy followed construction of this Dam (Wilson Dam), especially after the War. Questions arose concerning the role of the government versus that of private industry. Still, many advocates in the government (notably Senator John Norris of Nebraska) saw this as the first step in opening up the Tennessee River.
In 1930, the U.S. Corps of Engineers was directed to complete an engineering survey of the Tennessee River to determine the feasibility of establishing complete river navigability. The resulting report recommended a series of nine main river dams and several tributary dams to allow for a minimum eight foot channel (standard for barge navigation) from Knoxville to Paducah. The report was put aside, however, until 1933, when President Roosevelt advanced legislation to create the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a New Deal program which would pump the necessary money into these dams and open up the whole of the Tennessee River to navigation.
TVA immediately began construction of the dams proposed in the Corps of Engineers report. Though still constantly harassed by advocates of private industry, TVA continued its dam construction program throughout the New Deal. One of the main problems that TVA faced was the controversy surrounding its power generating dams. Private utility interests charged that the federal government was overstepping its bounds in public utilities by generating and selling electricity. Ensuing lawsuits forced TVA in 1935 to define its main goal as that of navigatmoÿ. ~t power generation or worker relief.
The resulting dam construction was a great boon to the Tennessee Valley, which was one of the poorest areas of the country. The valley, with its almost exclusive agricultural nature had been hit very hard by the Depression, a depression which had been ongoing for many years before the post-1929 depression hit industry. The poor of the Tennessee Valley often lived in houses that could be described as little more than shacks. Electricity and running water were so uncommon as to be considered a luxury for the upper-class, and sanitation was often so poor as to warrant special attention from the government.
Into this poverty TVA came, offering good wages for thousands, decent housing and food for its employees and the potential for job training and adult education. Though opposition was often faced from locals in the area to be flooded (who resented relocation), coal and utility interests, and conservative politicians, most locals welcomed TVA. The first of TVA s worker villages was at Norris Dam near Knoxville, Tennessee. In the early days of TVA, social experimentation was encouraged in dam projects. TVA chair Arthur Morgan believed that TVA could be used as a tool not just fos ecoîmic growth in the Tennessee Valley, but also for social advancement. The town of Norris was the physical manifestation of his dream. The town was huge by the standards of later worker villages, and remained a town even after TVA completed the dam. It included a school, modern houses, cafeteria, recreational facilities, and much more. Indoor plumbing, electricity, and modern conveniences were included with each of these buildings.
Still, Norris, TVA s model town, was not as perfect as its proponents suggested. TVA excluded blacks entirely from Norris, employing only a small number on the project itself. And underlying Morgan s program was a paternalism of sorts which often offended local workers, who were often fiercely independent and who resented the implication that they were children who had to be taken care of by TVA. TVA s racial policy at Norris was to be revised at later dams, but it never challenged southern Jim Crow socials mores in a meaningful way. And the paternalism of TVA under Morgan would later give way to industrial values, as new, more pragmatic chairmen emerged.
Accordingly, worker villages themselves changed. Never again were worker villages to be as ambitious as that at Norris. The villages that followed were usually much more practical in layout, designed more as temporary industrial worker housing than as permanent towns. And, following the controversy over exclusion of blacks from Norris, TVA began to build segregated Negro Villages near white villages. Unfortunately, most of these Negro villages were inferior to their white counterparts. The Negro village at Wheeler Dam in Alabama, for example, was built on a swamp. At the Negro village at Pickwick Landing Dam in Tennessee, black workers had to live with two families per household and walk through a crime-ridden squatter s village to get to work while whites lived with one family per household and had a more direct route to work, bypassing the squatter s village.
The last of the main river dams called for in the 1930 Corps of Engineers report was to be located near Paducah, KY. This dam was to be the last link in the chain of dams that would ensure the eight foot channel on the Tennessee. At first, the dam was called Aurora Dam, as it was originally slated to be constructed at Aurora Landing, Kentucky. But geological tests revealed a more suitable site nearby at Gilbertsville, Kentucky. TVA began construction of this dam in 1938, tentatively calling it Gilbertsville Dam (the name would later be officially changed to Kentucky Dam).
The area around Gilbertsville into which TVA came in 1938 was overwhelmingly rural and agrarian. A preliminary TVA report indicated that 65% of male workers in the immediate area worked in agriculture, while only 11% worked in manufacturing or mechanical industry (most of these being concentrated in urban centers such as Paducah). Poverty was also quite common in the area, with the average farm income being only about $700 a year. About 84% of the population lived in rural areas.
In 1938 TVA began construction of the dam. TVA, realizing the need for worker housing, drew up plans for a worker village to be built near the site. This village would consist of worker housing, a personnel office, a cafeteria, a community building, a fire station, worker dormitories (for both male and female employees), a visitor center, an elementary school, a hospital, an auditorium, and a Negro community building. Some 72 temporary houses were barged in from the newly completed Pickwick Landing Dam upriver. Eleven permanent houses were eventually constructed. The construction of TVA village lasted for about 2-3 years for the main buildings of the village, though some construction took place later.
The dam village at Gilbertsville was a thoroughly modern community. Each house had electricity and running water, rare conveniences for the area. This, combined with cheap electricity and good salaries, allowed many workers to enjoy a standard of living that would have been unheard of in the surrounding rural areas. The houses with their modern ranch design and modern conveniences contrasted starkly with the farmhouses of the surrounding countryside. To most workers, they stood as a testament to the positive social change and prosperity that TVA was bringing to the region.
Life in Kentucky Dam Village was a positive experience for most of its residents. The majority of these residents came in with TVA, having worked on other projects previously. So a sense of community developed quickly, especially among families who had known each other from other projects. Workers not only enjoyed good housing and modern conveniences, but they also enjoyed a strong recreational program, good education for their children, and good health care, all within the confines of the village itself. It is hardly surprising that many workers considered this the best job that they had ever had.
TVA s recreation program was superb. Two recreation directors were appointed to oversee the recreation program for the village (one for the Negro village and one for the white section). A community building was constructed for the workers, containing a large lounge, ping pong tables, a drugstore and soda fountain, and a library. Dances were held every Saturday and Wednesday night in the lounge, with the general public invited as well as the workers and their families. A village auditorium also provided diversions, including movies, basketball, and handball. Additionally, tennis courts, a small golf course, and baseball fields were located in the village. The workers had their own teams which would play local teams in sports.
Health care was provided by a hospital located in the village, complete with several doctors, nurses, and a full time support staff.
But it was in the area of education in which TVA really excelled. The village elementary school was the most modern school in the area. TVA s purchase of the old Gilbertsville school provided funds for the construction of the school, which was administered by the Marshall County School Board. The school served local children as well as village residents. The teaching methods in the school consisted of a variety of hands-on experiences, often subsidized by TVA and making excellent use of village resources. The staff of the school was extremely well trained and progressive. All of the teachers had Bachelors degrees and all had pursued graduate work in education. The principal held a Masters degree. The village school was celebrated as evidence of the possibilities of progressive education, even meriting a large article in the University of Kentucky s Bureau of School Services journal in 1942.
Adult education was also offered at the village. The personnel office contained classrooms for adult use and a variety of classes were taught there ranging from worker safety to mathematics. Reports show that these classes were very popular among villagers.
A phenomenon emerged in Kentucky Dam Village that could be seen in other TVA villages as well as in many other company towns. This might be called TVA culture, a specific division of company town culture. The fact that these men and women lived in such close proximity to each other, all worked for the same company, (with many families having worked together at several TVA projects) produced a sense of solidarity in the community. Many of these workers still identify themselves as TVA men even today, and almost all continue to support TVA, despite its problems since the dam era.
But underlying the unity of the village were many problems that illustrate TVA s shortcomings as well. At the workplace, there were numerous problems between workers and management. Many of the local workers, having been used to the informal working relationships of an agrarian society, found themselves confronted with industrial values that they did not fully understand or tolerate. TVA policies like its strict management hierarchy and its long and complicated sets of procedures for worker grievances were frequently bypassed by workers in favor of local labor unions, much to the chagrin of TVA officials. These kinds of problems, as well as racial difficulties, ultimately led to a worker strike in 1940, which will be discussed in more detail below.
However, these kinds of problems were not as common in the village as in the workplace, as most of the villagers were either management level employees themselves or were used to TVA s established policies, having worked with TVA on other projects. But, occasionally, such trouble did spill over into the village area. During the Thanksgiving Strike of 1940, meetings of the workers were held in the village auditorium, while management mapped out its strategy nearby in the personnel office. And events in the village frequently stirred up trouble in the local community. For example, early on in the construction project TVA announced that it would hire black waitresses in its village cafeteria, causing a strong backlash from the local community. TVA finally had to issue assurances that no white workers would lose their jobs as a result.
This incident regarding cafeteria workers illustrates one of the most persistent problems in the village and one of TVA s most unfortunate shortcomings, the racial policy. Kentucky Dam Village, like all of TVA worker villages, was fully segregated. The black section of the village, the Negro Village was set off to the north of the white village. Though some of the facilities located between the black and white villages (such as the cafeteria and drugstore) allowed black patronage, blacks and whites were rigorously segregated within these common areas. The segregation at Kentucky Dam Village and on the construction site itself was incredibly thorough, with virtually no contact at all between black and white workers and villagers save on the narrow catwalk across the river to the construction site (which blacks and whites shared in common).
Though this segregated policy was standard policy in TVA villages, the situation at Kentucky Dam was unique in some respects. The area in which the village was located was very hostile to the presence of black workers in the village. The county in which the village was located (Marshall County) had no indigenous black population, and hadn t apparently since the Civil War. And the local community effectively barred any attempts by black workers to live in the county outside of the Negro Village. In the preliminary report on worker housing, TVA reported that the residents of Marshall County had no intention of allowing any black workers to live in their communities, though local housing was available to white workers.
So racial problems were almost certain to plague the construction and village site, as TVA was bringing in the first black workers to live in the area in living memory. Numerous incidents occurred between local residents in the area and black TVA workers. One of the first was the cafeteria worker incident described above, but perhaps the most serious was the Thanksgiving Strike of 1940. The strike had been precipitated by the firing of a white worker and two black workers who had been fighting at the entrance to the railroad catwalk which led across the river from the village side of the river to the main construction side (the only area where black and white workers had regular contact). The local trade unions (encompassing virtually all white workers on the site), on hearing of the firings, staged a walkout in protest of the white man s firing. The incident was further agitated by problems in employee/management relations (mentioned above) and led to an all out strike which closed down dam construction for several days. TVA finally settled the dispute by hiring back all three workers and agreeing to demands for better TVA communication with local unions.
But internal TVA racial policy problems also haunted the village. TVA had barged in 13 temporary houses from Pickwick Landing Dam from the Negro Village there, built two Negro dormitories and a community building, and refurbished a local farmhouse to serve as a school for black children. But TVA soon realized that this housing situation was inadequate to house its black workers. Most of the black workers (who made up about 10-15% of the work force) commuted from nearby Paducah, but quite a few wished to live in the village. The problem was that almost all of the blacks working at the Dam were married. The result was black families lived two families to a house while the dormitories were almost empty. The situation mirrored that of Pickwick Landing, which TVA officials had condemned and vowed would not happen again.
But local TVA officials quietly let the situation in the Negro Village continue for two years, before finally taking action. And this action came only after a TVA investigation which condemned the Kentucky Dam officials behavior. To remedy the situation, six temporary duplex houses were constructed in the Negro Village. In defense of their tardiness, some officials claimed that since black workers were used to substandard housing and didn t complain about the cramped conditions, that the overcrowded situation was understandable. However, TVA officials in Knoxville disagreed.
Perhaps most regrettable has been the attempt since the Dam s completion to exorcise the Negro Village and the role of the black workers on Kentucky Dam from local public memory. The houses and buildings of the Negro Village were removed or destroyed shortly after the construction of the Dam and the role of the black workers was forgotten. Local workers, who had little if any contact with blacks during the construction to begin with, have almost completely forgotten their black coworkers. The area where the Negro Village once stood is now an empty field. Black workers on Kentucky Dam have become the forgotten minority, and the Negro Village has become the forgotten symbol. It stands now as an empty, unmarked field.
In conclusion, Kentucky Dam Village as a historic district represents a unique symbol in the Commonwealth of Kentucky of both the positive aspects of government social action during the New Deal era and its inevitable shortcomings. The Village is also a symbol of the role that TVA has had in reshaping the economy of western Kentucky. With the completion of Kentucky Dam, the entire Tennessee River was opened to barge navigation, and numerous industries were attracted to western Kentucky as a result of both an available heavy power supply and easy river transportation.
But the Village itself stands as a testament to more than just this obvious accomplishment. It stands as evidence of the first stirrings of industrial values in an agrarian area, its modern ranch housing in contrast with the older farmhouses around it. It stands as an example of the potential of positive government action. And its empty fields attest to the shortcomings of these actions and as a warning not to forget the pitfalls of a much less egalitarian time in our history.
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Comments: Bill.Mulligan@murraystate.edu