History of the Rural Electric Administration and LJEC

It was 1933 and America was still deep in the grips of the Great Depression. Unemployment was hovering at 25% and newly elected president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, had promised the American people that he would put them back to work.

FDR's "New Deal" was a series of economic programs implemented between 1933 and 1936. Passed by Congress during his first term, these programs were in response to the Great Depression and focused on relief, recovery and reform. New Deal programs during the mid-30's focused on banking reform, railroads, farming and industry (including production and distribution of electricity).

In 1934 Morris Cooke, a pioneer in advocacy of rural electrification, presented FDR with the "12 Minute Memo" outlining why electrification of rural America was so important.  In October of 1934, he stated "Of the returns in terms of social well-being, national safety, agriculture and industrial advance, and of individual happiness and security, there is no yardstick adequate for the measuring." By early 1935, FDR was convinced of the feasibility of rural electrification and its importance to America, and on May 11, 1935, he signed an Executive Order establishing the Rural Electrictrification Administration (REA).

On January 1, 1940, just 4.5 years after the REA's inception, it had financed and made possible the energizing of 180,000 miles of power line with another 80,000 under construction or in various stages of planning.

During the early 1940's, rural northeast Kansas was still largely un-electrified. Investor-owned utilities said there wasn't enough profit to be made to warrant the expense of building power lines to farms and homes in rural areas.

Leavenworth Jefferson Electric Cooperative (LJEC) was incorporated in 1940 by the rural residents in the area, but electricification would have to wait until 1946 due to efforts associated with World War II. LJEC's first power lines were energized on May 7, 1946, and we've been serving our member-owners in northeast Kansas ever since.

LJEC functions as a democratic, non-profit organization. We are controlled by our member-owners who actively participate in setting policy and making decisions in best interest of the cooperative. Unlike investor owned utilities, LJEC's profits are returned to our member-owners in the form of capital credits.

We have grown to serve over 8,200 meters for our 6,800+ member-owners throughout northeast Kansas (click here for service territory map). We strive to provide safe, reliable and cost-effective electric power together with services that enrich the lives of our member-owners and the communities we serve.