Youth Tour / C.Y.C.L.E

As member/owners of Ozark Electric Cooperative, your electrical needs have always been our top priority. For 80+ years, we have seen many changes with the advent of first electricity, and then technology into our lives. Now with a flip of a switch we have electrical power in our homes and businesses. Then (that is, over 80 years ago) this was not the case. Let’s take a look back at the history of Ozark Electric Cooperative.

President Franklin D Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) May 11, 1935, with signing of Executive Order 7037. It was estimated at the time that over 5 million farms were entirely without electric service. Private and municipal utilities were given the first opportunity to serve the rural areas. However, these utilities were reluctant to venture out into the rural areas. This was due to the fact that power was generated from central stations, and was usually a considerable distance from the farming areas. REA was created as a means of solving this problem.

Beginning in 1936, farmers started to form their own electric cooperatives through loans obtained from REA. That same year, farmers in this area began working on creating their own cooperative. These early pioneers worked many hours without compensation to get electricity to the rural areas. Many farmers and their wives were worried. They thought it would be the equivalent of bringing lightning into their homes. Also, some could not, or did not want to give up the $5 membership fee to join REA, for something as mysterious and, perhaps, as dangerous as electricity.

With the aid of C. C. Keller, then the county agent of Greene County; and John W. Woodward, the county agent of Lawrence County, local farmers held many community meetings in school houses, homes, etc. to promote the REA program. After over a year of selling the idea of electricity to the area farmers, their hard work paid off. On October 21, 1937, twelve Lawrence, Greene, Dade, and Polk County farmers met in the Lawrence County courthouse in Mount Vernon to form Ozark Electric Cooperative. Ozark Electric was among the first cooperatives to be formed in Missouri, and for many years was the states' largest electric cooperative. Along with other Missouri cooperatives, OEC experienced rapid growth. In 1936, only 6% of the farmers in Missouri were receiving central station electric service. By 1960, that percentage has risen to 97%. Ozark Electric grew as the word got out about the convenience of electricity. Ozark Electric Cooperative's newsletter dated September 20, 1942, reported that the number of consumers billed that year was 2,260. Currently, Ozark Electric Cooperative bills 30,000+ meters.

Washing, ironing, cooking, sewing, reserving food, taking baths, reading, milking, and other farming chores, were all backbreaking tasks before electricity. As more and more farms received electricity, more people saw the value of electricity. Here are a few examples of conveniences Ozark Electric members enjoyed by gaining access to electricity. These examples were pulled from the Ozark Electric newsletter in 1942.

• Fred Hardy of Chesapeake installed a new electric meat case for his store, and several members had purchased new automatic electric water pumps.
• Due to a shortage in farm labor, most likely because of World War II, several of the rural members with large herds of dairy cattle have installed new milking machines.
• Roy Pearce of Clever reported that he had purchased an electric range.
• Paul McReynolds and then board member Van Anderson of Morrisville purchased a small electric feed grinder which they planned to use together to grind homemade flour, cornmeal, chicken fee, etc.

It was the testimonies of these early users of electricity that convinced others that electricity was a necessity not a novelty.

What the coming of electricity meant to rural families was captured in the recollections of a land buyer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). Traveling a country road at dusk in the early 1940s, the land buyer came upon a farmer sitting on a little knoll overlooking his newly electrified farm. It’s a farmer gaze down at his house, barn, and smokehouse ablaze with light, he had a special look of wonder on his face. About a week later the TVA men attended the church to which this farmer belonged. During the service the farmer got up to give witness:

"Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you this. The greatest thing on earth is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your house."

Ozark Electric Cooperative continues to strive to bring reliable power to our members, it is our hope that they never forget the sense of wonderment that was experienced by the early rural families, perhaps their ancestors, with the advent of electricity.