On November 6, 1934, Memphis, Tennessee became the first major city to join the Tennessee Valley Authority.
The U.S. Congress formed the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) a year earlier, in May of 1933, in order to rectify poor conditions in the Tennessee River Valley, including destructive floods, deforestation, erosion, and periodic unnavigability of the Tennessee River. Among the TVA’s various projects are dams (including 26 built by the TVA), electric power, and research into such topics as “clean coal,” forestry, and wildlife conservation. The TVA is currently headquartered in Knoxville and serves and area of approximately 41,000 square miles.
The photograph below, courtesy of the Library of Congress, Stereographs Cards collection, shows bird’s-eye view of riverboats at the wharves along the Tennessee River, Memphis, Tennessee.
Bird's-eye view of riverboats at the wharves along the Tennessee River, Memphis, Tennessee
