of structures in the town had to be moved. Several smaller earthen dams were built along reservoir tributaries to house fish hatcheries. As the project called for the construction of recreational areas along the lakeshore, TVA built two supplemental dams—Caryville Dam and Big Ridge Dam—to impound Cove Lake and Big Ridge Lake, respectively, and ensure these small lakes would remain filled year-round. The Civilian Conservation Corps built recreational facilities and aided in the removal of various structures. The town of Norris, Tennessee was initially built as a planned community to house the workers involved in the construction of this dam. Norris Dam was completed and the gates closed on March 4, 1936, constructed at a cost of $36 million (equivalent to $ in ). The dam's first generator went online July 28, 1936. Although Norris was the first dam built by TVA, it is not the oldest dam owned and operated by the agency. TVA subsequently purchased the assets of the former Tennessee Electric Power Company, including some dams which had been built prior to Norris Dam. The building of Norris Dam and the changes it brought to the region inspired films, books, stage plays, and songs. Folk songs from the construction period express enthusiasm for the benefits that the dam project brought to the region. Notable visitors to the dam included President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, journalist Ernie Pyle, Swiss architect Le Corbusier, track star Jesse Owens, and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1941, the dam was the subject of a photography exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Legacy The project's intent of providing aid to residents of the Clinch and Powell watershed has been argued by scholars and historians, specifically regarding the TVA's acquisition of roughly 150,000 acres of farmland, and the displacement of an estimated 3,000 families and 5,300 graves. In Union County, the most negatively impacted county of the Norris Project, would encounter the inundation of the unincorporated town of Loyston and other scarce communities of the Big Valley region of Union County. After the project's completion, the Big Valley region of Union County, promised its electrification by the project's end, would not receive electricity until the late 1940s and early 1950s. Some of the displaced in the aftermath of the Norris Project would commit suicide, unable to bear the stress of the