[The 1927 Flood: A Look at the Tennessee Electric Power Company Sub-Station]

The Cumberland River experienced a major flood event after Christmas of 1926 and into 1927. This photograph shows the inundated Tennessee Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Substation on Lebanon Pike. Before the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1933, small private utility concerns like TEPCO were established to generate hydroelectric power as subsidiaries of the Commonweath and Southern. Presidential candidate Wendell Wilkie was president of the C & S and majority holder of most of the private power companies in the Tennessee Valley. TEPCO and 17 other companies sued to prevent TVA from buying up the smaller companies. When the Supreme Court dismissed the case (Tennessee Electric Power Co. v. TVA) in 1939,TVA purchased C & S.