People in Southwest Oklahoma believed that electricity could improve their lifestyle dramatically if only they could afford having it come to their farms and rural homes.
Under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Rural Electrification Administration had been established in 1935 as part of the New Deal.

REA would serve as the banking agency, providing loans for building electric lines to areas not receiving central electric service. Because investor-owned utilities were not interested in extending service to the “end-of-the-line” farmer, rural electric cooperatives were formed to take on the job. Eight out of 10 farms didn’t even have electric lights unless they had a home-owned “Delco” system.

“If other communities with similar problems could work their way into a land of better living through rural electricity, why not southwest Oklahoma?” said C.W. Cox, a Walters native and radio repairman. Cox saw in the REA program a tremendous opportunity to stimulate business in the area, revitalize farming procedures for added efficiency and productivity, and provide added home comforts in areas not served by electricity.

In 1937, Cox enlisted the aid of Walters businessmen, community leaders and progressive farmers to explore the possibilities of establishing a rural electric cooperative at Walters. Groups traveled around the state and to Washington, D.C. to promote the idea. They wrote letters and hired an attorney. The job looked huge in those early days but the group continued its job of selling their pet project to the community into the early months of 1938. The project began to really move in August of that year when the early leaders were joined by farmers and leaders in Stephens and Jefferson counties who wanted to be part of the cooperative. They began the task of signing up members. It wasn’t easy because the $5 membership fee was hard to come by. Some believed the venture was a “pie in the sky adventure.”

Several on the organizing committee held a series of well-attended community meetings. Farm women played an important role in raising the money for memberships. They sold eggs and cream, chickens and turkeys, and did without some necessities to accumulate $5.

Cotton Electric made its headquarters in Walters on its original date of incorporation, Sept. 15, 1938. Cox was hired as the first manager.

On Feb. 20, 1939, REA approved a loan of $230,000 to fund 234 miles of line to serve 780 customers in four counties. Power was to be supplied by the City of Walters.

Construction was launched on June 1, 1939. Meanwhile, homeowners were required to have their own homes wired and jobs for electricians proved another area benefit.

Only 84 days later, Aug. 26, 1939 was declared “The Day of Light.” The Walters Chamber of Commerce hosted a barbecue and special ceremony. The switch was thrown in an emotional ceremony, lighting up 150 homes along 109 miles of line.

Quickly, coal oil lamps were replaced by electric light bulbs. Electric fans, irons, radios, refrigerators and water pumps were welcome additions to these rural homes.

Soon, the co-op was selling itself and people were clamoring to sign up for electric service and become members. With the purchase of the Wolverton Brothers electric system, Cotton added 144 miles of line in Comanche, Tillman and southern Cotton counties. By the close of 1941, membership had reached 1,850.

The war years brought material shortages and saw skilled workmen called into service. Cotton Electric answered a major defense concern by using telephone wire and ingenuity to rig up emergency lines to serve area dairy farms supplying Grade A milk for Fort Sill.

When the war ended, the building of new lines boomed. With a membership of more than 5,500 by 1949, the cooperative was employing a “home advisor” and a “farm electricity advisor.”

In the 1950s, the first issue of The Cotton Electric Current was published as a four-page broadsheet. Don Dage hired Mrs. Lou Wilson as editor. The Current is the only broadsheet newspaper published in the United States by a rural electric cooperative. It has grown into a 20- to 24-page publication and is mailed to more than 15,000 homes.

The Duncan area office was opened in 1958 to serve the many members in the Stephens County area. District warehouses are located at Chattanooga, Medicine Park, Velma, Duncan and Waurika.

Heavy oilfield demand in the Velma area called for a new substation. And in 1954, a maintenance facility was established in Velma, with a warehouse, radio relay system, and collection office. Conferences with major oil companies such as Magnolia, Stanolind and Texaco indicated that drilling and refining operations were about to boom. Waterflood recovery operations later would increase production and economic impact of oil on this area even more. To keep pace, Cotton Electric chose to heavy up crews, increase engineering and other assistance and added substations at strategic locations to bolster the power supply and assure quality service.

The upgrades and the vegetation management program demonstrated their value when the co-op was hit with a devastating ice storm Jan. 28-29, 2010. Damage was widespread. At one point, only 630 of 21,386 meters had service. The extent of damage was the worst in the co-op’s history but the pace of restoration was swifter than what it would have been even 10 years earlier. Some members were without power for 13 days. The co-op lost about 2,400 poles and cost to restore was around $12.5 million.

In 2017, Cotton Electric’s power provider built a new substation near Devol in the southwest corner of the service territory. This created an opportunity to launch a metering pilot project, exploring new technology that can improve outage restoration efforts. Nearby, 950 solar modules quietly soak up energy produced by the sun. The solar site generated 446 MWh of energy in its first year.

For more than 80 years, Cotton Electric has had a dramatic impact on lifestyles of families in this area, moving them “from lamplight to satellite.” Today, the cooperative provides jobs for approximately 90 people. The cooperative delivers electricity and electric service to more than 20,000 locations along a network of approximately 5,169 miles of line reaching into eight counties of southwest Oklahoma. The consumer-members own this electric plant valued at more than $130 million, with total assets worth more than $145 million.

The Cotton Electric Board of Trustees is composed of Shan Files, Ken Layn, Todd Clark, Dell Farris, Brian DeMarcus, Steve Robinson, Tony High, Nichole Scott and Clifford Dunham. The board, in addition to Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Meason and a dedicated group of employees, continue their efforts to provide quality electrical service to the member/consumers at the lowest possible cost.