First Rural Electric Cooperative

On November 25, 1935, 17 farmers from Clay and Union counties met at the Manning/O'Connor store in Burbank, three miles south, to form a consumer-owned corporation through which rural residents of this part of southeastern South Dakota could provide themselves with central station electric service. At that meeting they formed Clay-Union Electric, the first rural cooperative in South Dakota. Its establishment was made possible after President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7037 on May 11, 1935, creating the Rural Electrification Administration. At the time, nearly 90 percent of rural America was without electricity. The creation of the REA was the first step toward a dream shared by rural Americans to have electricity in their homes. Achieving that goal was not simple, but with financial backing from the REA, 99 percent of rural America is now electrified. One thousand RECs serve 20,000,000 people nationwide, and in South Dakota, 33 RECs serve over 200,000 people.

South Dakota · United States