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Otter Tail history
Otter Tail company history timeline
The Founding of Otter Tail Power in 1907
Once the dam came online in April 1909, the company transmitted power at 22 kV over a 25-mile (40 km) line to serve the customers of the Northern Light Electric Company at Wahpeton, North Dakota.
But they got the job done." Otter Tail Power's first hydroelectric station at the Dayton Hollow Dam began operation in 1909.
Expansion Begins in 1913
1914 Otter Tail Power Company begins operating Hoot Lake hydroelectric plant, which the company had built northeast of Fergus Falls, on the Otter Tail River.
The first South Dakota community served by the company was White Rock in 1915.
Although Otter Tail Power had built its first power line to farm customers in 1919, it was an investor-owner company and added lines based on economic factors.
Fred Barrows, who had been drawn away from the business by opportunities in mining, lumber, and land speculation, sold his share of Otter Tail Power Company in 1921.
1927 Kidder Station, a near duplicate of the Washburn Plant, goes on line at Wahpeton, North Dakota.
1929 The stock market crashes symbolizing the start of the Great Depression.
1933 Thomas Wright, Vernon Wright's son, becomes president of Otter Tail Power Company.
1936 Congress passes the Rural Electrification Act, and Otter Tail Power Company begins providing wholesale power to area cooperatives the following year.
Vernon continued on as chairman of the board until his death in 1938.
1938 Negotiations between the company and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers culminate in signing the first labor agreement with employees.
A second major expansion period began in 1940.
1941 The company grows by 25 percent when it becomes the surviving company in a merger with Union Public Service Company.
1944 The company reaches its maximum territorial size serving a total of 496 communities after adding several towns in the Bemidji, Crookston, and Hallock areas in Minnesota.
1945 Director, Vice President, and General Manager C.S. Kennedy, who for nearly 25 years had been the iron man of the company, resigns; management decentralizes.
1946 Electricity use skyrockets after World War II. The company turns to diesel and gas generators to bridge the gap while additional steam generation is being built.
The decentralization process resulted in a doubling of the number of district offices by 1948.
1950 A 15,000-kilowatt steam plant goes online at Ortonville, Minnesota.
Otter Tail Power faced production overcapacity when service to rural electric cooperatives began declining in 1952.
The City of Fergus Falls agrees to sell its municipal system to Otter Tail Power Company which, in turn, agrees to build its new General Office there, to be occupied in 1955.
1960 With the opening of a District Office at Milbank, South Dakota, the company has 14 decentralized locations to provide customer service.
Thomas Wright retired in 1961; Cyrus Wright succeeded him as chairman of the board.
A period of rate stability began as did the passage to new leadership: John C. MacFarlane, with the company since 1961, was next in line to serve as president.
In 1963 Otter Tail Power joined with other investor-owned companies, cooperatives, and electric agencies to form the Mid-Continent Area Power Planners (MAPP) to coordinate future facility and transmission development in a region including ten states and part of Canada.
1963 Directors adopt a two-for-one common stock split.
The company entered into joint agreements for the construction of a 230,000-volt transmission line and a 410,000-kilowatt lignite-burning power plant in 1967.
Otter Tail Power formalized its own internal planning system in 1967 with the appointment of a vice-president of planning and a planning council assigned to investigate investment opportunities.
In 1967, Elbow Lake filed a suit for $3.5 million in damages against the company for delaying establishment of the business.
1967 The dispatch center installs the company's first computer.
In 1969, the company and a group of Fergus Falls businessmen agreed to build a total electric motel in the city.
The motel was sold in 1973.
When the United States Supreme Court upheld the ruling in 1973, Otter Tail Power began transmitting power to the city.
In 1975, the company began developing comprehensive load-control management systems and offered rate reductions to customers who would restrict peak-time electric use.
CEO Al Hartl retired in 1975.
1975 The 450-megawatt Big Stone Plant goes on line near Milbank, South Dakota.
Albert Hartl becomes president and serves until 1976, transitioning the company from a family business to a modern corporation.
A lingering dispute was settled out of court in 1981, when Otter Tail Power agreed to pay the city of Elbow Lake $1.3 million over a period of 14 years.
After the Coyote plant was completed in 1981, the company was able to begin using internally generated funds for its smaller scale construction and capital expenses.
1981 Coyote Station, with a capacity of 420 megawatts, goes on line near Beulah, North Dakota.
Robert Bigwood becomes president and serves until 1983.
Preparations begin for a rate case in Minnesota, the first since 1986.
Otter Tail Power incorporated a holding company, Mid-States Development, Inc., in 1989.
Another subsidiary, North Central Utilities, Inc., was established in 1992 to purchase regulated businesses.
1992 Minnesota passes a law that electric utilities must spend 1.5 percent of their electric revenues to encourage Minnesotans to conserve electricity.
In 1995 the company began burning subbituminous coal in its Big Stone plant.
The low-profile Otter Tail Power gained some media attention in 1995 when Mid-States Development, Inc. purchased an 85 percent interest in a Northern League baseball franchise, the Fargo-Moorhead Red Hawks, for about $1.2 million.
About 38 percent of total revenues came from subsidiaries in 1995.
1996 www.otpco.com website is launched.
In 2001, the company changed its name to Otter Tail Corporation with the utility becoming a division within the company.
John MacFarlane is named president and serves until 2002.
2002 Douglas Kjellerup is named president of Otter Tail Power Company.
2003 Charles MacFarlane is named president of Otter Tail Power Company.
The company requests to review rates in North Dakota, the first time since 2008.
2008 Langdon Wind Energy Center and Ashtabula Wind Energy Center begin serving customers.
Rate case is filed in Minnesota, the first since 2009.
2009 The company celebrates 100 years of providing electrical service to customers.
To comply with federal and state environmental regulations, construction began in 2013.
2014 Timothy J. Rogelstad is named president of Otter Tail Power Company; Charles MacFarlane is named president and chief operating officer of Otter Tail Corporation.
2019 The company marked a major milestone in the future of its generation resources by beginning construction on two projects.
Merricourt Wind Energy Center concluded construction and began commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2020.
2020 The company completed the largest capital project in its history.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resource Management | 1992 | $8.4M | 47 | 39 |
| Des Moines Water Works | 1919 | $12.0M | 107 | - |
| Scf | - | $340,000 | 5 | 141 |
| United Water Services Inc | - | $420.0M | 3,000 | - |
| Oglethorpe Power | 1974 | $1.6B | 320 | 32 |
| Minnesota Power | 1933 | $3.3M | 100 | - |
| People's Energy Cooperative | 1936 | $51.4M | 73 | - |
| Doña Ana Mutual Domestic Water | 1990 | $5.3M | 15 | - |
| Artesian Water | 1905 | $90.9M | 241 | 3 |
| Emera Maine | - | $110.0M | 140 | 1 |
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Otter Tail may also be known as or be related to OTTER TAIL CORP, Otter Tail, Otter Tail Corp. and Otter Tail Corporation.