First REA Project in Kansas

At this site, the first power pole for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative was dedicated in a special ceremony on November 10, 1937. Brown-Atchison was the first rural electric project in Kansas financed by loan funds from the Rural Electrification Administration to energize. On April 1, 1938, central-station electricity generated at the Horton Power Plant was sent into the first section of lines to farms in Brown and Atchison counties, signaling an end to darkness and drudgery for rural people. Thirty-eight other electric cooperatives followed in Kansas to deliver electricity into every rural area of the state. Rural electrification became known as the best "hired hand" the farmer/rancher could have, and few other occurrences have affected rural areas so positively. The rural electric cooperative pioneers in Kansas showed that working together for their own and the common good produced a better life for themselves and their neighbors.

Horton, Kansas · United States