During the Great Depression in 1937, a group of Wood County citizens met at the courthouse and agreed to seek an REA loan to construct an electrical system for the entire area.
Up until this time, electricity was used mainly for heating. Kerosene lamps were used at night to be able to see and to read. The new system would open up a different life for the citizens of the area and would be responsible for much of the growth of the county.
Wide availability of electricity allowed Wood County to grow and prosper. At the time, radios were coming into widespread use, so it improved the flow of information and entertainment for rural people. New appliances were being marketed, but the demand for these could only be fulfilled in areas with plenty of access to electric power.
The initial group was not successful in obtaining the loan. However, with the help of Congressman Morgan Sanders of Canton and Congressman Sam Rayburn, they finally received a loan and the Wood County Electric Cooperative was born.
The loan was approved in 1937 and a charter was obtained for the new company. The original incorporators were J.W. Kennedy, H.S. Cathey, J.B. Sullivan, L.A. Williamson, J.B. Ziegler, J.J. Puckett and Arnold Holley.
In May of 1938, work was begun on the electric lines. On October 7, 1938, lines were energized for 210 members on 120 miles of lines, all in Wood County. At that time, the fee to become a member of the cooperative was $5.
The yearly billing for the cooperative to provide electrical service to its members was about $5,400 a year.
At the 1940 board of directors meeting, the minimum monthly bill was set at one dollar. That paid for the first 11 hours of electricity. Anything over 11 hours was billed at 9 cents.
Juan Nichols, then the general manager, recalled that when a meter reader came to a house to read the meter, often the housewife would come out and say, "I haven't used all my minimum for the month. Could you give me a few minutes to iron some shirts?"
This all came about because the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was formed in the spring of 1936 under the Roosevelt administration.
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