President Elect Franklin Roosevelt Visits Florence

President Elect Franklin Roosevelt Visits Florence

Franklin Roosevelt; Florence, AL; Tennessee Valley Authority; Wilson Dam; Lauderdale County, AL

President elect Franklin Roosevelt visited Florence on January 21 and 22, 1933. The President was in the area touring Wilson Dam as a model for his proposal of a Tennessee Valley Authority. The design of the program, drafted by Senator George Norris of Nebraska, was to bring power and economic development to the region. The visiting dignitaries included three senators, George Norris, Kenneth McKellar, Clarence Dill; Tennessee governor Hill McAlister; Alabama Governor Benjamin Miller; and President Roosevelt’s daughter Mrs. Curtis Dell.
The city was packed for the President’s arrival with Court and Tennessee Streets packed as the presidential limousine passed that way. The president attended Sunday services at the First United Methodist Church at the suggestion of Dr. Henry Willingham, President of the State Normal College in Florence.

Michael Williams, University of North Alabama

McDonald, William Lindsey. A walk through the past : people and places of Florence and Lauderdale County, Alabama. n.p.: [Killen, Ala.] : Bluewater Pub., 2003., 2003. UNA Library Catalog, EBSCOhost (accessed April 30, 2015).
1933. "Encyclopedia of Alabama." Roosevelt Visits Wilson Dam. January. Accessed April 20, 2015. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-3314.

Alabama Cultural Resource Survey

January21-22, 1933

Photo from following websites:
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/m-3314

Photo of President elect Roosevelt visiting Wilson Dam