Talco received electricity on Monday, May 28, 1928, twenty-six years after it reached Mt. Pleasant. The availability of electricity greatly enhanced residents' lifestyles and made Talco a more attractive town for settlement.
Today there's hardly a part of rural Titus County that isn't populated by modern homes, and the availability of electricity influenced this rural development greatly. It would be 1936 before rural Titus County residents had the chance to have electricity installed in their homes.
On May 11, 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the stage for rural electrification when he created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) by executive order as part of a relief package designed to stimulate the economy, which was still suffering from the Great Depression.
Only 10 percent of rural Americans had electricity, and lack of electricity prevented farmers from modernizing their farms. It also forced some people to live in unhealthy conditions, because many rural homes were inadequately heated and had poor sanitation because most farmers had no running water and little means to store food.
Private utility companies were not eager to serve rural areas because they felt supplying them with electricity was unprofitable. Cities used a 2300 volt distribution system then, which could only carry power about 4 miles before the voltage dropped to unacceptable levels. Lack of private service led farmers to form non-profit cooperatives to provide electricity before the REA was created. However, these cooperatives lacked the technical and financial expertise needed to succeed without government assistance.
The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 was one of the most important pieces of legislation of Roosevelt's New Deal. Congress passed the Rural Electrification Act on May 20, 1936, making the REA's ability to provide long-term funding for rural electricity a reality. The REA permitted the president to appoint an REA administrator who was authorized to make loans for rural electrification to furnish electric power to people in rural areas who could not obtain private electric service.
The REA changed how cooperatives worked. Most significantly, the government aided farmers by granting their cooperatives low-cost loans so the cooperatives could obtain the necessary generation and distribution facilities to supply their farms with power. The REA also helped farmers develop assembly-line methods of building transmission lines through uniform procedures and standardized types of electrical hardware. REA cooperatives used a 6900 volt distribution network, which supported runs of up to about 40 miles. Despite requiring more expensive transformers at each home, overall system cost was manageable and more rural families could afford electricity.
At the Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce's regular meeting on Monday, November 30, 1936, it was announced that there was a strong possibility that Titus County could secure a REA project by early 1937 if enough people were interested in the project to secure it.
P.T. Montfort, Director of Texas Rural Electrification in College Station sent substantial information describing what kind of work would be done and how local rural citizens could secure the project.
An application had to be filed with state officials soon, and if the project was implemented it would mean that every participating farmer could have all the conveniences of city life. Low cost rural electricity would mean installing lights, water pumps, modern heating systems, and the many other things that local farmers needed.
The Douglassville Cooperative was first in this area to apply for a REA project, followed closely by Titus County. Projects from Titus, Morris, Cass, and Bowie Counties were later combined into a single project.
The Mt. Pleasant Daily Times received an announcement from the Rural Electrification Administration's Washington office on Saturday, October, 30, 1937 that bids on the first part of the Titus-Morris-Cass-Bowie County project would be received at Douglasville on Monday, November 8.
As soon as the bids were opened, tabulated and scrutinized by the REA, a construction contract would be given to the low bidder and work would begin.
J. H. Sims of Sims was president of the Douglassville cooperative, and the REA had allocated them $174,000 for initial construction work. The initial project survey called for erecting 1,513 miles of lines in the four counties, serving 1,853 rural customers. In the year since the initial survey was taken, private power companies extended their lines to include some people who planned to be on REA lines.
REA money could only be used to construct power lines and a power plant. The project's completion was dependent on power line right of way being donated because no REA money could be spent for right of way.
W. L. Hubbard of New Boston and H. S. Cranberry of Douglasville, representing the Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative, came to Mt. Pleasant on November 9, 1937 to bring a petition to present to the Titus County Commissioner's Court at its December 13th meeting. The petition requested commissioners to grant easements along Titus County roads to erect the poles, wires and other equipment necessary to carry electricity to Titus County's rural residents.
Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Cranberry said that although no appropriation had yet been made for Titus County's project, it would likely be made soon and securing easements to use public roads would materially aid in securing the project.
Doug1assville began their REA project shortly before the Titus County, and had already secured right of way easements. All that was necessary before construction could begin was to obtain $5 deposits from each person wanting electricity on their farms.
Southwestern Gas & Electric Company at Naples would provide the power, and lines would be run from Naples along Highway One as far east as Redwater and along Highway 77 beyond Douglassville.
On November 29 the Chamber of Commerce discussed the petition asking the Commissioners' Court for permission to use the county's right of way to construct power lines for Titus County's proposed REA project. They decided to ask the commissioners to call a special meeting to grant the easements so the Chamber could start immediately to ask the REA's Washington office for an early appropriation to continue the Bowie-Cass County project through Morris County into Titus County.
Hundreds of Titus County residents signed up for REA power after hearing that Southwestern Gas & Electric Company would furnish the power, and the Chamber thought that by applying a little pressure that the Bowie-Cass County project could be extended soon.
W. L. Hubbard visited the Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday afternoon, June 7, to explain some of the details so that the Chamber could inform anyone who asked. Mr. Hubbard said if Titus County residents wanted an REA project, it was up to them to sign the application and attach a $5 membership fee to get the project moving.
Mr. Hubbard said that almost everything else had been arranged and the appropriation would be available as soon as enough memberships were secured.
The Chamber of Commerce prepared letters on June 8, 1938 urging all committeemen of various rural Titus County communities desiring electric power to attend a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce office on Monday night, June 13 to hear Mr. Hubbard outline the requirements to secure electricity.
Harvey Sims, who was largely instrumental in securing the Bowie-Cass REA project, and Mr. Hubbard attended the Chamber of Commerce meeting and explained to farmers how to secure electricity for their homes. They gave cost details for connections, monthly service charges and other items, and told how to apply for the project and form the association. Mr. Sims pledged to do everything possible to help Titus County secure the project, and had tremendous influence in the affairs.
REA community chairmen and others interested in establishing a Titus County REA project met at the Mt. Pleasant City Hall on June 25, 1938, where they formed Titus County's permanent Rural Electrification Association. Permanent cooperative officers elected were: George C. Lunsford, chairman; G. C. Meadows, vice-chairman; C. T. Neugent, secretary; Raymond Brown, treasurer. All community chairmen served as members of the board of directors.
Community chairmen's reports were read, with just three communities not attending. The reports showed that 110 persons had signed agreements, paid their five dollars, and signed power line right-of-way easements. Many more were expected to sign in the coming weeks.
Titus County received enough applications to be included in the Bowie, Cass, and Morris County project by July 10. The Bowie-Cass Electric Cooperative was incorporated for one million dollars, and Project Engineer W. L. Hubbard of Douglassville served as manager for all four counties. Mapping Engineer J. A. Gober, Mt. Pleasant Chamber of Commerce Secretary Delbert Snider, and George Lunsford, Titus County REA Chairman, had plotted Titus County's lines.
New Titus County membership applications were received until 9 a.m., Thursday, July 14, when George Lunsford, Delbert Snider, Raymond Brown, Craig Lain and John B. Stephens carried the applications to Mr. Hubbard in Douglassville, who forwarded them to Washington for final approval.
Titus County's application was delayed at the state level for quite a while, but on August 23 Texas REA engineer George Phelps arrived in Mt. Pleasant to start final pre-construction mapping, cost estimates, and other preparations to bid and construct Titus County lines. He was to spend all of his time on the Titus County project so there would be no more delay.
A contract was awarded at Douglassville on November 22, 1938 to P. E. Workman Construction Company of Dallas to construct 117 miles of Titus County power lines for $63,138.05, or about $535 per mile.
J. A. Gober was elected resident engineer, contingent on being released from his duties with the Bowie-Cass Cooperative, and was to begin staking out the lines on December 1st with two crews of workmen. He estimated six miles of lines could be staked out a day after work began.
As soon as enough lines were staked out, the construction company began work with 140 calendar days allowed for project completion. The lines would be ready to energize in late April.
Rural electrification was badly needed and greatly appreciated. It had taken almost two years for Titus County residents to get the project moving, and everyone was happy that it was now ready for operation.
By 1950, life on an estimated 90 percent of American farms had been improved by electricity.
