Norris Dam

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Norris Dam is the first dam constructed by TVA in the 1930s. Construction began on October 1, 1933. The dam was completed in March of 1936, constructed at a cost of $36 million. It is a straight concrete gravity-type dam, 1860 feet (570 m) long and 265 feet (81 m) high. Norris Lake, the largest reservoir on a tributary of the Tennessee River, has 33,840 acres (137 km²) of water surface and 809 miles (1302 km) of shoreline. The dam is equipped with two 50 MW electrical generators.

The dam was named in honor of Nebraska Senator George Norris, a longtime supporter of government-owned power in general, and supporter of TVA in particular. Hungarian-American architect Roland Wank revised the initial plans from Bureau of Reclamation engineers, and gave the poured-concrete Norris Dam a modernist style, which was controversial and advanced for the era of construction, but the result succeeded in elevating Roland Wank to the position of Chief Architect for TVA from 1933 through 1944.

The town of Norris, Tennessee was initially built as a planned community to house the workers involved in the construction of this dam.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norris_Dam
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Coordinates:   36°13'26"N   84°5'29"W

Comments

  • I love visiting here. Beautiful view!
This article was last modified 14 years ago