Badin and the Narrows Dam on the Yadkin River were important in the history of hydroelectric engineering, industry, and community planning in North Carolina. In 1796, historian William Winterbotham wrote that the Yadkin became narrow and rapid there and called it an especially favorable location for a large manufacturing town. Construction of Badin began in 1912 under a French-owned company as a planned village for workers building a dam and aluminum plant. The town was divided into distinct neighborhoods, one for African Americans, now called West Badin, and one for whites, separated by the Alcoa Plant and Highway 740. In 1915, the French company sold its interests in Badin and the plant to the Aluminum Corporation of America, which finished construction in 1917. The town was designed with company buildings, houses, and public services such as water lines, sewers, and electricity, and its hilly streets included several types of commercial and community buildings along with standard houses and apartments. Originally owned and rented by Alcoa, the houses have been privately owned since 1930.