About the Exhibition
The Federal Government’s Rural Electrification Administration (REA), established during the Great Depression of the 1930s, helped associations of farmers across the United States form electric distribution organizations. Beyond constructing power lines and identifying sources of power, the REA lent cooperatives start-up money, taught management practices, and promoted the use of electricity on the farm.
In September 1936, the Delaware Rural Electric Association (today, Delaware Electric Cooperative) incorporated in Georgetown (DE). By 1939, they were one of 690 borrowers across the country to take advantage of the REA program. Rural Delaware’s challenges did not end after the Delaware Electric Cooperative energized its first power lines in 1938. Soon after the Great Depression, the U.S. was plunged into World War II on December 7, 1941.
Just as life returned to normal at the end of World War II, Delaware suffered two devastating storms that caused economic setbacks throughout the state. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel didn’t directly hit Delaware but it’s 100 mph wind gusts still caused 4 deaths, widespread power outages and heavy damage including the downing of many large trees. On March 6, 1962, a 3-day Nor’ Easter, called the Ash Wednesday Storm, pulverized Delaware’s Atlantic coast and Delaware Bay claiming 7 lives and $50 million in damages (roughly $465 million today). High tides in Rehoboth and Lewes rose to almost 5 feet above street level during the worst storm in Delaware’s recorded history.
Today, we take electricity for granted, and because of that, we might not even notice the electric poles in the background of this pictured still from MGM’s 1939 masterpiece The Wizard of Oz. At that time, a farm like Auntie Em’s and Uncle Henry’s in rural Kansas would not have had electricity if not for the Rural Electric Administration (REA). The exhibit’s use of color to show the impact of electrification across rural Delaware landscapes was inspired by The Wizard of Oz’s watershed use of Technicolor, introduced during the same time.
Modern Times: The magic of the coop movement has always been its willingness to innovate. Today the Delaware Electric Cooperative is committed to providing members with affordable power while also reducing its carbon footprint. Its Bruce A. Henry Solar Farm in Greenwood, for example, produces enough energy to power 400 Cooperative homes.
The Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility:
Since his election in 1976, Senator Harris B. McDowell III, the longest serving member of the Delaware General Assembly, has been a champion of clean energy. Senator McDowell retired in 2021 to chair the Board of Energize Delaware, formerly known as the “Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility” a utility he helped found in 2007.
Senator (Ret.) McDowell III was one of the featured speakers at the exhibition opening in 2022.
Energize Delaware was developed at University of Delaware’s Center for Environmental and Energy Policy to deliver and promote energy efficiency and renewable energy services to Delaware households and businesses. Their current ZeMod housing program carries Senator McDowell’s long-running commitment to clean energy into the present day. This handsome interactive exhibition explores the impact of rural electrification on Delaware agriculture and in the state’s rural communities from the time before electricity through our present-day focus on renewable, clean sources of energy.
