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Wilson Dam’s Vanished Boomtown of 21,000 Workers
In 1918, Alabama farmland near Muscle Shoals turned into a boom city almost overnight. The Wilson Dam project drew over 18,000 workers who built a town from scratch with 1,700 buildings.
Soon, the camp swelled to 21,000 people with schools, an 85-bed hospital, and mess halls that fed thousands. Each day, 111 train cars hauled in supplies while 800 bricklayers worked side by side…