Prior to 1936, much of Rural America was without electricity. In fact, it wasn’t until the passage of the the Rural Electrification Act, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, that electricity would begin its move into America’s rural countryside. Electric cooperatives were organized to provide this service and make the dream of electricity on the farm a reality.

Ontonagon County Cooperative Electric Association was incorporated September 30, 1937.

Original incorporators: John Franti, Ewen; Elmer Rautio, Green; Otto Halme, Ontonagon; Jalmer Lehto, Mass.

A big event attracting hundreds of people to the Ontonagon Township Community Building on May 8, 1938, was the dedication and energizing of the Cooperative’s first lines. Governor Frank Murphy and Public Utilities Commissioner Joseph Donnelly were guest speakers. Donnelly, a native of Ontonagon, championed the cause of rural electric cooperatives in Michigan after Murphy was elected in November of 1937.

Number of Services: 4,786

Ontonagon County REA has 5.18 consumers per mile of line, the least of any co-op in Michigan, spread over several distinct areas of the western Upper Peninsula.