The Franklin County Historical Society and Franklin Rural Electric Cooperative will host a special ceremony recognizing the Reeve REA Power Generating Plant Museum as a National Historic Landmark Wednesday, July 9th.
The museum will hold an open house from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm, with an official award ceremony with Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig at 11:00 am.
Originally known as the Reeve Power Generating Plant, the site was the first facility west of the Mississippi River to provide electricity to rural homes under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 1935 Rural Electrification Act. Rick Whalen is a board member of the Franklin County Historical Society and tells RadioOnTheGo News how the plant got started.
“The government offered low interest loans to start these and they offered them initially to the investor-owned utilities but they didn’t think they’d ever buy enough electricity to make it pay in the rural area. So they formed these co-ops basically county by county and then the co-ops were buying electricity from the investor-owned utilities and they thought that they were getting charged too much. So they went back to the government and the government started loaning out money for generating facilities and there was one in Wisconsin and one out east that were before this one. But the one out east, I believe, is a daycare, and the one in Wisconsin is a light machine shop.”
The plant was taken out of commission in 1974 and was opened to the public as a museum in 1990. Whalen says now that the building is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, the historical society can apply for grants to help with the upkeep of the building.
“So we’re designating it as the National REA Museum. This designation that Mike Naig is coming for is so we can apply for and receive grants. It was on the National Historic Register, but with the landmark designation, you have more opportunity for grant money. It helps with the upkeep, we had to put a new roof on this spring. That was $60,000. We had to go out and get some grants for that. And then the process of this application was done by a consultant. I think that was $27,000 to have the application. Originally it was supposed to take two years for the application. It took four, but we got it the last December.”
Parking is limited at the museum. It is located at 14-50 110th Street southwest of Hampton. Guests are encouraged to park west of the Franklin County Fairgrounds. Franklin REC will run shuttle services continuously between 10:00 am-12:30 pm on July 9th. Shuttle pickup will be located at the Franklin County Historical Society building on the east side of the Franklin County Fairgrounds. This event is free and open to the public.
Updated July 4th with comments from Franklin County Historical Society Board Member Rick Whalen
