Wheeler Dam

Wheeler Dam
Wheeler Dam
Official nameWheeler Dam
LocationLauderdale / Lawrence counties, Alabama, United States
Coordinates34°48′25″N 87°22′55″W / 34.80694°N 87.38194°W / 34.80694; -87.38194
Construction beganNovember 21, 1933
Opening dateNovember 9, 1936
Operator(s)Tennessee Valley Authority
Dam and spillways
ImpoundsTennessee River
Height72 ft (22 m)
Length6,342 ft (1,933 m)
Reservoir
CreatesWheeler Lake
Wheeler Hydroelectric Project
Wheeler Dam is located in Alabama
Wheeler Dam
Wheeler Dam is located in the United States
Wheeler Dam
Nearest cityRogersville, Alabama
NRHP reference No.16000431[1]
Added to NRHPJune 26, 2016

Wheeler Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Lawrence County in Alabama. It is one of nine dams on the river owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the mid-1930s as part of a New Deal-era initiative to improve navigation on the river and bring flood control and economic development to the region. The dam impounds the Wheeler Lake of 67,070 acres (27,140 ha) and its tailwaters feed into Wilson Lake.

Wheeler Dam is named for Civil War general and U.S. Congressman Joseph Wheeler.[2] Congressman Wheeler was an early advocate of federal development of the Muscle Shoals area.[3] The dam was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.[4]

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  2. ^ "What's the origin of your town's name?". Times Daily. June 3, 2006. pp. 4A. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. ^ Tennessee Valley Authority, The Wheeler Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Wheeler Project, Technical Report No. 2 (Knoxville, Tenn.: Tennessee Valley Authority, 1940), pp. 1-9, 39, 48, 111, 219, 231, 239.
  4. ^ "Wheeler Hydroelectric Project". National Park Service. Retrieved 21 February 2017.