This structure symbolizes progress and the determination of rural residents who, through electricity, helped bring the Graceville area into the 20th century. On May 30, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law, and 19 months later it allowed the formation of West Florida Electric Cooperative to supply electricity to several hundred rural residents around Graceville. The act created the Rural Electrification Administration, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which provided low-interest loans to rural groups seeking to form their own electric cooperatives. On December 10, 1937, more than 700 rural residents around Graceville joined together to form West Florida Electric Cooperative. They borrowed $194,000 from the Rural Electrification Administration to finance construction of the initial lines, related equipment, and an office facility. The first office was located in Marianna in 1938. In 1939 the office moved to Graceville, and that year electricity reached these rural residents. West Florida Electric Cooperative purchased this property in 1946, construction on the present building began in 1948, and it opened for business here in 1949.