Jackson Purchase Historical Society

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.