Jackson Purchase Historical Society

A recorded interview with Eric Nordberg on WCMT in Martin, Tennessee promoting his upcoming presentation on “Aviation in Northwest Tennessee.” The presentation will be held at the November 2nd meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society at the Everett-Stewart Airport in Union City, Tennessee beginning at 10:30 am.

The November meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society will be hosted at the Everett-Stewart Airport in Union City Tennessee on Saturday, November 2 beginning at 10:30 am in one of the airport’s historic 1942 hangars. The airport is located between Martin and Union City, off Highway 22 at 1489 Airport Circle Road, Union City, for those using GPS. The meeting will focus on the history of aviation in northwest Tennessee. The event is co-sponsored by the Everett-Stewart Airport Authority and Full Stop Aviation.

The program will feature Dr. Erik Nordberg, an industrial historian and dean of the Paul Meek Library at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Nordberg has been investigating the development of aeronautics in west Tennessee, considering the different forces that determined airport locations, passenger service routes, and current systems for civil and commercial aviation. The state of Tennessee has many important footnotes in early aviation history, with visits by Glenn Curtis spurring air shows, barnstormers, and wing walkers. The region’s fair weather also drew the attention of the military, with significant installations during both world wars. “We often think systems like these develop by luck and happenstance,” Nordberg reports, “but the reality is that powerful economic, military, and governmental forces shaped this critical transportation network.”

The October meeting of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society will be hosted by the Kentucky Dam Village State Park on Saturday, October 19 beginning at 10:30 am in the Henry Ward Building, the main lodge at the park, 166 Upper Village Inn Drive in Gilbertsville. The meeting will focus on the construction of Kentucky Dam, the last of the TVA high dams that transformed life in the Tennessee River Valley. The National Hydropower Association is joining us, as a co-sponsor.

The program will feature Robert L. Underwood, author of the recently published Dam It! Electrifying America and Taming Her Waterways. The book was selected as the gold medal winner in the 2024 International Book Awards for the General History category. While his book deals with the entire history of hydroelectric dams in the United States, his talk will emphasize the TVA, and especially the story of the TVA’s mightiest, Kentucky Dam. He has a special connection to Kentucky Dam as his grandfather was the project manager for the construction of the dam. Bob Underwood has a PhD in engineering from Stanford University and an MBA. He has had a successful career developing technology-based businesses.

“The construction of Kentucky Dam is arguably the most significant event in the history of the Jackson Purchase. The jobs it created allowed many families to stay “home” rather than go to Michigan for jobs. When we interviewed people who had worked on the dam that came through time and time again – the dam allowed me to stay here. The low-cost electricity it generated in huge quantities allowed the full electrification of the region and attracted more industry and jobs. This improved the lives of everyday people throughout the Purchase and its vicinity,” JPHS president Bill Mulligan stated. “Its impact on the region is as monumental as its size,” he concluded.

The October meeting’s co-sponsor, the National Hydropower Association, is the leading organization in the United States dedicated exclusively to championing waterpower as America’s original clean, renewable energy resource. It represents more than 300 companies in the North American hydropower industry, from Fortune 500 corporations to family-owned small businesses.

The Kentucky State Parks are celebrating their 100th Anniversary this year. Long recognized as on the finest state park systems in the country, it includes a wide variety of parks. Kentucky Dam Village State Park dates to the completion of the dam when Henry Ward, a pioneer in Kentucky parks, arranged for the Commonwealth to acquire the site of the village that had developed to house and serve the needs of the workers and their families. Many of the cottages housed workers and administrators during the construction. The park has added structures over the years and remodeled the cottages, but the core of the park is the worker village.

Stories of Interest from the Hickman Courier from September 25, 1874

• The Congressional district’s Farmer’s Council met the week prior in Mayfield to discuss the nominees for Congress but the “meeting developed considerable differences of opinion” on which candidate to back. The meeting adjourned without a declaration of support for a nominee and agreed to gather in Benton on October 13th.
• The Paducah Kentuckian declared in its September 21^st issue that it supported Caswell Bennett as its candidate for Congress. The Mayfield Democrat supported A. R. Boon; the Paducah Tobacco Plant supported Oscar Turner; the Fulton Gazette was reported to support “anybody to beat Turner” and the Eddyville Telegraph was behind Bennet for Congress.
• The Democratic Executive Committee of the First Congressional District called for a Convention to meet in Paducah on October 15^th. Democrats from Fulton County were asked to meet at “their usual place of voting” on October 10^th to appoint delegates from their precincts.
• Nine men accused of the murder of black prisoners in Gibson County, Tennessee were arrested and brought to Memphis. A hearing was held where three were discharged and six held in jail on a $3,000 bond each.
• Sadly, the remaining issues of the Hickman Courier for 1874 and all 1875 have been lost to history. It was not until the May 19, 1876 issue that the newspaper was again preserved for posterity.