Completion of Tellico Dam

Date: November 29, 1979 • Location: Lenoir City, United States

The controversial Tellico Dam project by the Tennessee Valley Authority is completed despite being ordered to shut down from the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Tennessee Valley Authority v. Hill.

Tellico Dam is a concrete gravity and earthen embankment dam on the Little Tennessee River that was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Loudon County, Tennessee. Planning for a dam structure on the Little Tennessee was reported as early as 1936 but was deferred for development until 1942. Completed in 1979, the dam created the Tellico Reservoir and is the last dam to be built by the Tennessee Valley Authority.