Decades of innovation: 1950s

World War II is over. Walton EMC has extended lines to every corner of its 10-county service area. The emphasis shifts from connecting homes and farms to the grid to helping members make the most of their new workhorse – electric power.

The 1950s bring explosive growth in rural use of modern appliances.

By the end of the decade, most homes are equipped with a wide range of appliances including refrigerators, freezers, ranges and washing machines. Walton EMC hires home electrification advisors who conduct demonstrations on cooking, clothes washing and other efficient uses of electric power. Homemakers attend in droves.

“New Appliances,” a regular feature in the co-op’s newsletter listing members and their new electric devices, becomes popular. The newsletter itself – named “Realite” after a member contest – launches in 1951. Electric lighting benefits are a frequent topic, featuring tips like “have plenty of outlets” and “place a light switch at every door.”

Farmers reduce labor by installing water pumps, automatic waterers and feeders for poultry houses and electric milking machines for dairies. The long days of heavy toil are finally starting to get shorter.

The co-op also works to make the young electric grid more robust and reliable.

New substations begin dotting the service area to meet increasing member demand. Cutting-edge equipment, like voltage regulators and automatic breakers, improve service quality for end users and reduce outages.

Walton EMC linemen get the first hot line equipment. This allows some repairs and improvements without cutting power to members’ homes and farms.

But all is not promising. Co-op leaders soon spot a new threat on the horizon.

Investor-owned utilities (IOUs) that showed no interest in serving rural areas now realize their missed opportunity. Through smear and propaganda campaigns, encroachments on cooperative territory and lobbying against co-ops building their own power plants, IOUs seek to reclaim what they now see as valuable territory. In response, Walton EMC forms the Minutemen, a dedicated group of influential members ready to advocate on the cooperative’s behalf.