DESCRIPTION: Rare original blueprint plat map of the Lakeside Highlands subdivision on the east side of Lake Wilson in the Muscle Shoals District at Florence in Lauderdale County, Alabama. With a small scale inset context map (1 inch = 1 mile): "Muscle Shoals District Showing Location of Lakeside Highlands." G.P. Nicolopoolos Owner and Developer. Date ca. 1930.
Drawn by W.A. Dealy, the map includes insets of a suggested tree-lined street section and a suggested business section designed by landscape architect Frank M. Button ("The highest type of Architecture is our aim.") Streets shown include the existing Lee Highway and Wilson Dam Highway (South Wilson Dam Road), and the proposed Center Drive, Shoals Boulevard, and Lakeside Drive, East Lakeside Drive and two bridle paths.
Background: After the outbreak of WWI Congress passed the National Defense Act of 1916 which, provided for construction of several new dams and for two nitrate plants. Nitrates, formerly sourced from Chile, were used in explosives and were deemed critical to the war effort. The nitrate plants were to be located in Muscle Shoals with the nearby Wilson Dam (then under construction) to provide power for the plants. The first nitrates were produced from these plants in November of 1918. The war ended before completion of the dam and eventually the Government offered the incomplete Wilson Dam for public sale. Henry Ford (Detroit, Michigan) made an offer to pay for completion of the dams and the nitrate plants in return for a 99-year lease. Ford's vision was to build a city 75 miles wide, employing over 1 million workers. Ford's involvement caused a land boom. Politics ensued. Ford withdrew his offer, and the land boom faded.
Sources:
Kazek, Kelly. "Could Muscle Shoals have been a hub rivaling Detroit? Henry Ford thought so". Al.com January 14, 2019.
https://historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMJ0V_howell-graves-school_Muscle-Shoals-AL.html
PUBLICATION DATE: 1930
GEOGRAPHIC AREA: United States
BODY OF WATER: Tennessee River
CONDITION: Good.
 No issues.
COLORING: Blue
ENGRAVER: W. G. Johnson.
SIZE: 28
" x
23 "
ITEM PHYSICAL LOCATION: 53
PRICE: $775
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