Rural Electrification
South Woodbury Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
In 1936 seventy-five percent of Pennsylvania farms had no electric service. Over the next five years, in response to their needs, 14 consumer-owned cooperatives were formed in this State. Serving users in Bedford, Fulton and Huntingdon counties, New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative was incorporated November 18, 1938.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
When investor-owned utilities refused to run power lines into thinly settled farm country, Pennsylvania's farmers organized their own answer. Backed by federal support in the late 1930s, they formed fourteen consumer-owned electric cooperatives across the state. New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative, incorporated in 1938, wired homes and barns across Bedford, Fulton, and Huntingdon counties, ending generations of kerosene lamps and hand labor.
Why it matters
These farmer-owned co-ops closed the gap between rural and urban America and remain a model of self-help infrastructure still serving the countryside today.
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Related events
- · Rural Electrification Act
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Rural Electrification
Bedford Township, PA · est. 1989
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