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Rural electrification date in your part of the world?

B

buickanddeere

Well-known Member
East coast of Lake Huron was wired in the late 1920's with 25HZ power from Niagra Falls.
My father's farm connected in 1941 and my Mother's farm in the mid 1950's .
Utility came around in 1957 and replaced electric motors for the 60HZ upgrade.
 
Dad had 6V, then went to 32V, and I can remember REA coming out and setting this GREAT BIG Post. Must have been 48-49. I was born Jan 44.
 
I can remember some parts of Texas didn't have power. Until around 1958. My grandmother lived in Palmer Texas. Town had power but she did not. Thought it was the devils work. When we would go visit. She would make us pray for God to forgive us for having it. Before we could enter her house.

When she started getting sick. They had to get the preacher to come over and pray in the house. Then tell her God said it was ok for her to have it. Doc said she needed it for fans and such to keep cool.This was in 1959.

Great cook for Sunday dinner and homemade ice cream.Real nice lady and would help anyone she could. But a little strange.
 
It come to the old family farm in 1937. Some of the original poles are still standing. They had a delco system before that. I am not sure when that went in but it was the first house in the area with running water and electricity.
 
(quoted from post at 08:17:04 02/08/13) East coast of Lake Huron was wired in the late 1920's with 25HZ power from Niagra Falls.
My father's farm connected in 1941 and my Mother's farm in the mid 1950's .
Utility came around in 1957 and replaced electric motors for the 60HZ upgrade.
Click to expand...

Western, Pa we got connected at the farm around 1954.
 
Central Kansas. I'm guessing about 1945-46. Barely remember, but we had 32V Delco system prior to that. Still remember all the clear class batteries in the basement and a Wisconsin (I think) powered generator. No wind generator like some in the country used.
 
Where I am now, a trolley line was in town since the 1890's, so lots of old houses for miles around have knob and tube. In some places, long before the depression era project, the railroad brought power up its own telegragh lines, and sold it to online businesses, from there, it could sprawl out, but it seems poles and equipment cost more then than today... without gov't help, that was tough for most country folks. I guess if if you didn't get it by the start of WW2, you probably didn't get it till the 50's... most of the northeast was lucky in that regard.
 
Most of the electric line running to my folks' farm is still original from the 1940's. The wires are still original for sure.

Some of the poles near the road have been replaced but they ran the line as the crow flies, right down through their fields.

The poles are spaced 2-3 times farther apart than what you see along the road, too. Rotten as all get-out. If one ever goes down the whole neighborhood will be out of power for a month.

It's a lot of fun when a wire pops off an insulator. They can't get to it with the bucket truck, and the young guys won't climb the poles because of how old and wobbly they are. The old guy in the crew always ends up strapping on the spikes and shinnying up the pole.
 
1937 at Losantville, Indiana. All those original polls came crashing down like dominoes in the ice storm of 1991. Three inches of ice from that storm. No power for several days.
 
Located in western Illinois. Got electricity in 1949, neighbors 1/4 mile away on next road got it a year earlier. Was really disappointing that we couldn't get it being so close. I was five at the time and can still remember looking at the cartoons in the newspaper with the old lamps and etc. Dad had an old windcharger, but batteries were getting bad and only used it mainly for light in basement. I enjoy the modern conveniences, but still cherish those early day's. Although the thing I didn't enjoy was the outdoor plumbing when it was below zero on a winter morning.
 
House originally had gas lights. There was a gas generator in the cellar, gas was generated by mixing chemicals in a a refrigerator size unit and gas was piped to fixtures on the ceiling of the different rooms. A 28 volt Delco system replaced that and the REA hooked up in 1939. The company gave a financial break on the hook up provided your use was of a certain amount. So Dad bought and used a 1500 watt space heater for supplemental heat, to avoid that charge. In 1960, Omaha Public Power District had bill boards advertising an electric heat rate of less than a penney/KW. They have raised that, I know that is more than you wanted to know. Oh this was at; 40.2N-96.1W .
 
We got REA in 1950... I Remember that Day Quite Well... My dad had Wired Our House for "Electric Lights" Already in preparation for Power, and when They turned the Main Switch, EVERY light in the house was On!...what memories indeed. Larry KF4LKU
 
Local coop was incorporated in 1940. First customer hooked up in 1941. This is near Gettysburg, PA. My parents remember getting power in Eastern Iowa in the late '40s (guessing a little).

Interesting story about the local coop...Law at the time said something to the effect that the first company with services available would get the customers. Local big power co was extending lines into the area, but residents wanted to be hooked up to the coop service. They went around filling the holes delaying construction of the big co. Called the "Battle of the Pole Holes"

We still have coop service to our place.

Kirk
 
This area got elect. in the early 1920s. In this house, I remember Dad getting elect. in about 1952. Soon after that we got indoor plumming. No phone till about 1960.
 
Here in central North Carolina, (Randolph County), our Co-Op was organized in 1938. I never did business with a Co-op until I bought this place in 1977. I couldn't ask for better service.
 
A subject near to my heart in view of our home town hero Sam Rayburn"s leadership in "The New Deal legislation".
The first service in Texas was March 9 1936 but lines reached our Fannin County farm in 1946 because we were and still are figurtivly and literaly at the end of the line. A neighbor was quoted as saying"look at that,you can see all four corners of the room"when he pulled the light string for the first time.
 
Here in central NY it was about 1938. I only know that because when dealing with the elec. company the engineer had records telling when the poles were set. Most of these poles, and the line, is still original.
It has always amazed me how this country could mobilize and do some major thing, like electrify rural US in such short order.
Could we do it now?
 
In Central Mo. they had the poles set along the south fence line of our farm when WWII broke out. The service was not hooked up till after the war. My grandparents could look at the smaller towns around at night who had lights, while they were still using kerosene lanterns.

Gene
 
Could we do it now, NO. We would have to have a dozen studies and then approved by another dozen agencies, and by then the cost would already be above the initial cost. No wonder this country is busted.
 
Lines were pulled in this area in 1948. Farmers pulled the wire with mules and a few had tractors. My Dad pulled it on the road where I live with his tractor. The house I live in today had carbide lights plumbed in with 1 light in each room. When I started on it in 1984 I removed the pipes and the old wires they had installed in 1948. Had one light and one outlet in each of the 8 rooms. Never seen wire like that anyplace before or since. Very large od. and when cut it left like a tar on the knife blade.
 
From what I understand REA came through my neighborhood in the mid-30's. There was a sizeable country school a half mile away from here that probably had a lot of pull. I read A 1934 news clip in the local paper about a lady having an accident when she hit a low-hanging wire with her Overland right about where I live now. Other areas around here didn't have juice till the late 40's. Jim
 
My Grand-dad told me the REA came through our home area (south central Michigan) in 1934, the same year I was born. I asked him about it because I one day noticed there was a concrete pedestal in his garage by his '34 Ford where he told me the old Delco electric DC generator outfit had been mounted. Grand-dad's big house that was completed in 1901 had a DC electricity system and wiring with the power generated by this generator. Grand-dad's big house (4800-5000 sq. ft.) was "state of the art" at that time with electricity, running water and central heating system. They used it all having had 10 children. I remember nearly everyone having "high line" electricity back as early as 1938, but a house my parents and I lived in in the early 1940's got "wired" in 1944 so I do remember a little bit about living without "juice". I still have the Sears Silvertone battery operated AM radio that was in our house when we lived there.
 
My part of the world is not rural so 1880. Edisons lab was in New Jersey and the second biggest light bulb maker was from NY city. Kearny Generator where I have worked was built by Edison.
 

I remember my Father getting upset when local people called coop's by the name REA. He stated the rural coop's provided the electricity REA only provided the $$$$$$ to the coop's.
 
This part of N.D. got REA in 1946, 1947 and a few years after that depending how many miles they had to run lines.
 
Power came from a little station on a small lake just over the hill. That was 1941 when it actually got to this property. Within a year, well, running water, indoor facilities and claw foot tub. First bathroom was out the back door and across the back porch. Heat furnished by kero heater.
 
The towns had electricity here for a long time before we country folk got any.....1956 on our farm...I was hatched in 1961 so I don't know any different!...LOL
Sam
 

1938 in my corner of SC. Women were happy not to have to clean lamp shades anymore.

KEH
 
Pre Electric Maytag washing machine motor. They
had two assembly lines back then. One line for the gas motors for the rural folks and one line with electric motors for the city folks.
a101078.jpg
 
Up here in Northern Alberta they got power in the early sixtys.
There was still no grid power on our farm in the Netherlands in 1980 when i immigrated to Can. :roll:
Our farm was smack in the middle of a city of 100.000.
 
The house my parents bought in 1958 a few months after I was born was built with wiring. I'm told that SEIREMC had extended service to that road in the mid 1950's. East end of North Dearborn Rd in Dearborn County, Indiana. Our phone service was Cincinnati Bell, but until sometime around 1980 Cincinnati was still a long distance call.
 
NEMO, Mom,s house was built in 36 and was wired when built. REA was about two years later. BTW, REA is what was written on the building and on the doors of the trucks. Today it is the REC.
 
PAGlenn,
I had a maytag motor just like the one in the pic on a go-cart 55 years ago. Wonder what happened to the motor and what is it worth today?
George.
 
Town had power from a small local company, after WWII, they expanded into the rural areas, I don't know if it was through REA or not. The power lines came by our farm and to the neighbor's in 1945. Dad was promised power by spring of 1946, because of this, he bought an electric milking machine and a refrigerated can cooler, and cut no ice that winter. By June he was still milking with the gas motor, and trying to keep the cans cool with spring water. He finally took a handful of rejection slips from the creamery down to the electric company and asked the owner if he was going to wire up the barn, or start buying milk.They were up there stringing wire the next morning. It was the next year before they strung wires to the house. One of those poles went down in the windstorm we had here last week. They will be replacing everything next week.
 
The easement on my farm to allow the power line to be placed is dated 1938, but the actual line probably came a little later. Branch County, South Central Michigan. The main road in front of my place was paved in 1970, the road that borders my North line was paved in 2001.
 
I am to young to remember when REA came to our place but can remember rural water district. Mid 60s at Dewey Ok. My dad was one that helped get started and was on first board of directors.
 
Dad said they got power in the late 40's, would have been sooner but WW2 intervened, he said the house was wired and everyday he would come home from school and flip the switch and one day the lights came on! I heard of neighborhoods all turning their lights on at a pre-determined time and saw pictures of the "death of the kerosene lamp" ceremonies they held where they actually buried one in the ground
 
Grandparents bought this farm in 1962.At the time there was a drop cord with a bare bulb and a pull chain in each room.House had a cold water tap in the corner of the kitchen and no other plumbing.There was an outhouse behind the garage and a bucket under the kitchen sink.
I remember an uncle of my mothers visiting and saying he had visited our place with his parents in 1934 when the previous owners hosted a big party in honour of Mitchell Hepburn getting elected premier of Ontario.Everybody was talking about the electric wires coming that year or the next.Nieghbours house was built by his grandparents in 1932 and wired in preparation of the wires coming.
 
'Here'... were were connected in 1949. In the more urban areas... probably from 1880 onwards as the mines developed.

Rod
 
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