This Day in Southern History (Tupelo, MS Becomes “First TVA City”)

February 7, 1934—Four months after entering into a contract for the purchase of power generated by Wilson Dam, Tupelo, Miss., became the first city to receive electrical service from one of the signature New Deal programs: the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

As my other post from today notes, President Obama is being labeled “socialist” for an extremely mild cap on the compensation of any banker accepting government largesse. TVA was a far riskier proposition: in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, “a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessed of the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise.” Private companies complained that the project constituted unfair competition.

Though Sen. George Norris pressed two fellow Republicans, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, to implement his idea of developing the Tennessee River Valley, it took a Democrat, FDR, to put it into action. In Muscle Shoals, Ala., land belonging to Wilson Dam—a project built in WWI meant to produce nitrates for munitions—was transferred over to TVA.

TVA achieved its great purpose: to provide abundant cheap electricity to people who didn’t have it before. Lorena Hickok, a journalist who became a good friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, reported on a fact-finding trip in the South only four months after the beginning of service to Tupelo the following as one telling example of the change being wrought: “One thing they are doing is to cut down greatly the cost of wiring a house. For instance, in Tupelo it used to cost as high as $60 to have an electric stove installed in your house. It now costs $5.” Moreover, she reported, industries attracted by cheap power were inquiring about coming to the area.

Over that first year, energy consumption grew 114% for residential consumers in Tupelo and 77% for commercial users.

Throughout the 41,000 sq. miles in seven states covered by the valley, TVA would accomplish the following:

* its electricity would supply homes;
* locks were built to permit more and larger barges to carry goods;
* reforestation and soil-retention projects were begun;
* fertilizer was produced for sale to farmers;
* floods from the Tennessee River--a source of potential danger--came under control;
* reservoirs and lands surrounding them provided for considerable recreational development, including water skiing, canoeing, sailing, windsurfing, fishing, swimming, hiking, nature photography, picnicking, birdwatching, and camping.
* conservation was upgraded through control of forest fires and improved habitats for wildlife and fish.

Due to fierce domestic opposition, the TVA turned out to be a one-of-a-kind project rather than a blueprint for similar enterprises elsewhere. But perhaps no other New Deal program better illustrate FDR’s penchant for bold experimentation and desire to boost the economy, nor his longtime interests in aiding farmers and improving conservation.

And Tupelo still prides itself as the “First TVA City.”