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Tennessee: Powerhouse, jail nominated for historic register

By: Pam Sohn
(Contact)

Included in this article

Paul Archambault
Ken & Nonie Webb

To get to school each day, Ken Webb, now 85, would descend into a tunnel on the Jasper, Tenn., side of the Tennessee River and emerge into the spiral staircase of the Hales Bar Dam and Powerhouse on the river’s far side.

The tunnel was long, narrow, dark and damp with leaks.

“Sometimes it might be a little scary,” Mr. Webb recalls. “When the water was high, you could hear it roaring. And the tunnel leaked quite a bit. When you were in it, you were right in the middle of all that water. If you met someone, you’d have to lean around (sideways) to let them pass.”

The powerhouse of the Hales Bar Dam — the first multipurpose dam built on the Tennessee River — was one of six Tennessee sites nominated by the state Wednesday for placement on the National Register of Historic Places.

The six sites proposed also include the Bledsoe County Jail, built in 1851 and now the state’s oldest operating jail. With a colorful history of community feuds involving a family dynasty of sheriffs, the jail was nominated for its role in government.

The nominations will be sent for review and possible approval to the National Register of Historic Places at the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service in Washington, D.C., said Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Paul Archambault, the historic preservation planner for the Southeast Tennessee Development District who wrote the nomination applications for Hales Bar Powerhouse and the Bledsoe Jail, said historic designations offer opportunities for new-use grants or historic tax credits.

The owner of Hales Bar Marina also owns the powerhouse, according to Mr. Archambault, and possibilities for the structure — now partially used for boat dry docking — could include a restaurant, hotel or museum.

Bledsoe County officials hope to create a historical attraction in Pikeville by converting the jail into a museum, Mr. Archambault said.

Yesteryear’s import

The hulking Hales Bar Dam Powerhouse was nominated for its significance in engineering. Built between 1905 and 1912, it was the first of its kind.

In addition to providing pedestrian transit from one side of the river to another through the tunnel, it produced electricity and helped tame the river. The attached lock and dam — now gone — backed up enough water to eliminate the dangers of the 652-mile river’s most treacherous section: The Pot, the Suck and the Skillet between Chattanooga and the Tennessee-Alabama state line.

The town of Guild, Tenn., named for the structure’s engineer, Chattanoogan Josepheus Conn Guild, began as a village for the 1,500 workers who built the dam and powerhouse.

The structure operated from 1913 until 1968, but it was built on limestone, and the water’s flow eroded the footing and caused the dam to leak even in its earliest years. In 1939, the Tennessee Valley Authority, created in 1933, took over operation of the dam. Despite extensive repairs, the dam continued to leak, and in the early 1960s, TVA abandoned it and built a new one 6.5 miles downstream.

The $70 million Nickajack Dam began operating in 1967, and the Hales Bar lock and dam were demolished. The powerhouse is all that remains.

The Bledsoe County Jail in Pikeville was built in 1851 at a cost of $1,500.

Originally constructed of brick with a stone foundation, the jail held five inmates. In 1937, additions were made to the building, and the exterior was changed to stone.

The jail was decertified by the state in 1977, due primarily to the age and design of the building. In 1992, a federal judge ruled the jail was inadequate for housing inmates, and county officials again updated it.

The jail now remains uncertified due to overcrowding, and officials recently reduced the number beds from 20 to 11. The county is building a new, $5 million jail that will hold up to 120 inmates.

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