[5] The origins of the dam lie in the treacherous Muscle Shoals section of the Tennessee River, an area of dangerous shallows and turbulent currents, impeding commerce and navigation.

[8] The expansion of steamboat travel and plantation agriculture along the Tennessee Valley inspired many largely unsuccessful efforts in the late 19th century to tame the shoals, including a canal around the area.

US Officials feared that the German Navy could disrupt the supply of nitrates, used in the manufacturing of explosives, which were primarily imported in the form of bat or bird guano from Chile.

[8] The settlement's mess halls served over 20,000 meals a day, and it also contained a school with capacity for 850 students, three barbershops, and a hospital.

[11] The Secretary of War, John Weeks sought private sector investment in order to complete the project in the post-war political climate.

[11] Ford promised to use the dam and create a planned city in the yet-nonexistent Muscle Shoals which he would make the "Detroit of the South.

[8] Norris' plan would address three major concerns affecting the Tennessee Valley, persistent flooding, soil erosion, and lack of electrical power.

[13][14] TVA and Wilson Dam brought power to thousands in the Lauderdale and Colbert County areas as part of the TVA's overall plan of rural electrification and, in the words of one economist, gave residents "universally high standards of living, new jobs, leisure, freedom and an end to drudgery, congestion, noise, smoke and filth.

[12] These plants continued to serve throughout the Cold War, supplying a major portion of the phosphorus used in munitions by the United States Armed Forces.