“First Rural Electric Cooperative”

On November 25, 1935, 17 farmers from Clay and Union counties held an historic meeting at the Manning/O’Connor store in Burbank, three miles south of this spot. Their purpose was to form a consumer-owned corporation which would allow the rural residents of this portion of southeastern South Dakota to provide themselves with central station electric service. At that meeting Clay-Union Electric, the first rural electric cooperative in South Dakota, was formed.

The establishment of Clay-Union Electric was made possible when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7073, creating the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), on May 11, 1935. At the time nearly 90% of rural America was without electricity. The creation of the REA was the first step in achieving a dream, shared by all rural Americans…to have the convenience of electricity of their homes.

Obtaining that dream was not simple, but thanks to financial backing by REA, 99% of rural America is now electrified. Once thousand RECs served 20,000,000 people nationwide. And in South Dakota, 33 RECs serve over 200,000 people.

This marker was erected May 11, 1985, by member cooperatives of the S.D. Rural Electric Association and the S.D. Historical Society, to commemorate the signing of E.O. 7073. It is dedicated to the 17 founders of Clay-Union Electric, President Roosevelt and the thousands of unnamed individuals who struggled to bring electricity to the countryside.

Clay County, Hwy 50 at Burbank turn off. On both north and south sides of road