Depression-era effort brought jobs, power and tourism to area
By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
The United States of America, marking this 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence is, in a worldly context, a relatively young nation.
Still a look back into its history, though not that deep, contains volumes: historical events and undertakings that transformed the country. When you get outside the original 13 colonies, many of the nation’s states are considerably younger – counties and states may be younger still.
Certain Alabama cities played a role in national events. The aerospace industry in Huntsville played its role in space exploration; the cities of Birmingham and Montgomery were flashpoints in the Civil Rights Movement.
How about Marshall County?
In looking back over the county’s history, arguably the biggest historical event – one that continues to have impact on the county today — is the construction of the Guntersville Dam which created a still-flowing fount of hydroelectric power and a lake that has established Guntersville as a tourist destination.
It was a project the changes lives and literally changed the landscape, flooding thousands of acres of what had been largely farmland to create the Lake Guntersville.
But, as Guntersville Museum and Cultural Center Director Sara Elizabeth Phillips noted, it was not the best farmland and the local economy struggled in the years before the New Deal project brought the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers to north Alabama.
“It really pulled Guntersville out of poverty,” Phillips explained. “It has done a lot for our area and beyond that, it fixed flooding problems. It solved a lot of problems though it did create a lot of problems.”
While the project meant progress for many; for others it meant leaving their homes.
To create the lake, the government bought 110,145 acres of land and began the process of moving 1,182 families and 14 cemeteries to higher ground in the county and relocating more than 90 miles of road.
“It was hard, but it’s been such a blessing,” Phillips said.
According to the Encyclopedia of Alabama, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers first recommended a dam on the Tennessee River in 1914, about 5 miles upstream from the present location.
The river was too shallow to navigate in areas around Guntersville, and farmers suffered losses to flooding, but Congress didn’t make money available then.
In 1935, the newly formed TVA agreed with the Corps’ recommendations and “authorized a dam at Guntersville to extend a navigation channel beyond Wheeler Lake, which was under construction at the time. The goals of the New Deal project were to create a continuous navigational channel along the entire length of the Tennessee River and control flooding while promoting economic development and electricity generation in the region,” the article by Angela C. Otts reported.
Immense task
The work got underway in 1935, with planning and the immense task of clearing the land, including 24,426 acres of woodland, by cutting trees with hand saws and snaking logs out. Some farmers were paid for their land; federal workers moved some houses on rollers to new sites and some older farmhouses and buildings were burned.
Army Corps workers raised the old Guntersville Highway (now known as U.S. 431) to preserve a main route through Guntersville, constructed access roads to the dam from both sides of the river and rerouted some of the connecting county roads, Otts wrote.
The project flooded a number of Native American sites and prompted the largest archaeological project in the state’s history, she continued, recovering many Cherokee artifacts from several hundred sites located. The Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration excavated 23 of the most important sites recovering human remains, pottery, bowls, beads, stone tools, amulets, iron implements, bone and antler items, and burial goods.
“A portion of the collection is on display in the Indian Artifact Room at the Guntersville Museum & Cultural Center, and the remainder is with the University of Alabama and the Moundville Archaeological Park,” according to Otts.
“The TVA began construction of the dam on Dec. 4, 1935, and completed it on Jan. 24, 1939. The project used 295,700 cubic yards of concrete and 4,600 tons of reinforcing steel while employing a crew of 1,800 men, three of whom died during the construction. The dam generates 140,400 kilowatts of electricity with four hydraulic turbines and four generators. It stands 94 feet high and 3,979 feet wide. Water below the dam averages 20 to 30 feet deep,” she wrote.
The project cost $51 million, making it the most expensive project undertaken in Marshall County at the time.
It turned the City of Guntersville into a peninsula, Phillips noted, surrounded the lake.
To celebrate the completion of the dam and the formation of Guntersville Lake, city officials and residents sponsored a hydroplane boat race in the summer of 1939 that drew more than 60,000 people.
Guntersville Lake stretches 75 miles from Nickajack Dam in southeast Tennessee to Guntersville Dam and encompasses 67,900 acres with 949 miles of shoreline. Its average depth is 15 feet with a maximum at 60 feet in the river channel, according to Otts.
And the lake’s stump beds, milfoil and hydrilla growth make a fine home for fish and a fruitful destination for fishermen.
Bass fishing and outdoor publications give it great praise; Southern Living readers have voted it the best lake in Alabama. In 2020, a study analyzing the economic impact of Lake Guntersville found it had a $1.2 billion impact on Marshall and Jackson counties.
The Guntersville Museum & Cultural Center is hosting an exhibit about the construction of the dam and the creation of the lake. Admission is free, and hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday- Friday, and 1 p.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The museum is located in the old Guntersville Armory building at 1215 Rayburn Avenue. It was constructed in 1936 under the Works Progress Administration.
Phillips said the exhibit is part of the museum’s celebration of America’s 250th celebration. “This is our part in history,” she said.
Guntersville Lake filled up days after the completion of the Guntersville Dam in January 1939, after about three years of construction. The Tennessee Valley Authority project created 1,800 jobs and cost $51 million – roughly $1.25 billion in 2026 money. The project transformed Marshall County by taming the Tennessee River, which was barely navigable in some places and was prone to flooding in others, and created a lake that made the county a hub for recreation. The unearthed Cherokee artifacts also created the largest archaeological site in the state’s history. The building of the dam and subsequent creation of the lake is arguably the most important event in this area in the 250 years since the American Revolution. SPECIAL TO THE LEADER
