Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 2
Model houses in Norris Village. (Walter Creese and Earle S. Draper Jr.)
TVA literature described as “a community based upon the orderly combi-
nation of industrial work and subsistence and farming.”
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According to
Augur,“the fundamentals of the plan were never sacrificed—a recognition
of the underlying purposes of the community—a sympathetic treatment of
the site, abundant open space for children's play and adult recreation, attrac-
tiveness in all things big and little, from the iron bracket of the street sign-
post to the roadway's gentle curve and the school's straightforward
architecture, simplicity, economy, a place designed for pleasant living and
convenient work.”
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The reality fell far short of the dream.The costs of housing were higher
than those projected. As a result, the professional staff of the TVA were
attracted to the original houses in Norris, while workers found them-
selves able to afford only the cinder-block houses in the southeast corner.
The small population and rural location (approximately 25 miles from
Knoxville) rendered Norris unattractive to businesses and industry. By
1936, when the major phases of construction were over, workers began to
leave Norris, replaced in the housing units by outsiders on a waiting list.
