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Richland Electric Cooperative is an electric distribution cooperative located in Richland Center, Wisconsin. [1] Richland Electric Cooperative serves approximately 3500 members with electric service throughout Richland County, Wisconsin and parts of Sauk, Vernon, and Crawford counties as well. [1]

The cooperative was formed on January 8, 1936 as the Richland Cooperative Electric Association as the result of the Rural Electrification Administration order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. It was the first electricity cooperative in the state. The co-op first provided electricity was on May 7, 1937. The farmhouse had been wired for electricity when it was built in the 1917, but had no power grid with which to connect. [2] [3] [4] [5]

References

  1. ^ a b "Welcome | Richland Electric Cooperative". www.rec.coop. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  2. ^ " Big switch: Electrification of farms was a welcome and startling development" Milwaukee Journal Sentinel July 31, 1935, Green Sheet 1
  3. ^ Wisconsin Rural Electric Cooperative Association, " Report of Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Rural Electric Cooperative Association" April 30, 1936.
  4. ^ Perry Baird, " Who's On First Archived 2007-09-13 at the Library of Congress Web Archives" Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News May 2007.
  5. ^ " Rural Electrification (Historic Marker Erected 1965)" Dictionary of Wisconsin History