WAYNE COUNTY COOPERATIVE history

In the summer of 1807 they build a road to Eaton, Ohio to give them a direct connection with the "Wayne Trace," the old military road built by General (Mad) Anthony Wayne from Fort Washington (Cincinnati) to Greenville in his Indiana campaigns.

In 1809 Governor Harrison signed a treaty with the Indians which opened for settlement a 12-mile strip, paralleling the Greenville boundary line.

From 1815 on, the eastern Indiana frontier began to bustle.

In 1817 settlers, living north of town, cut the "Quaker Trace" to Fort Wayne to give them a trade outlet there.

Convinced, finally, that a town would inevitable be organized on the eastern bluff of the Whitewater River, Cox joined Smith in 1818 in the town project.

The National Road, now United States 40, was surveyed to Richmond in 1827.

In 1829 when he was succeeded by Daniel Reid.

The first issue of the Richmond Palladium was printed January 1, 1831, and therewith became the founder of a journalistic enterprise that 150 years later had the unusual distinction of being the second oldest newspaper in Indiana from the standpoint of continuous publication.

A covered bridge across the Whitewater River at the foot of Main Street was completed in 1836.

The first locomotive entered Richmond in March 1853.

The First National Bank was established in 1863 and is the oldest national bank in the state of Indiana and the sixth oldest national bank in the United States.

The railroad to Winchester was started in 1870 and two years later it was extended to Fort Wayne.

The story of rural electrification has its beginning in Manhattan in 1882, more than half a century before President Roosevelt signed the legislation creating REA. That year, Thomas A. Edison constructed the first central station electric system.

In 1887, following the death of their father, E. G. Hill and his sister Sarah Hill moved the business to the edge of what is now Glen Miller Park.

In 1892, they separated from Piute County and the Legislature created Wayne County.

The first unit was dedicated July 27, 1905.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal administration enacted several programs to help ease the economic woes of this country, one of which was a program to relieve unemployment-the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, approved on April 8, 1935.

Wayne County REMC was originally incorporated in August 1936.

Eons of geologic history are visible especially in Capitol Reef National Park, first set aside in 1937 after decades of effort by residents.

The first pole was set on April 4, 1938, for Fayette-Union County REMC on the Carl Creek Farm in Liberty.

People in Wayne, Clinton, Pulaski, Russell, and McCreary counties were signed up and eight months later on June 10, 1939, the project, having been deemed feasible, was granted a loan by REA. Engineers were then employed and lines were built.

On January 23, 1940, the cooperative celebrated the energizing of its lines and the beginning of its system operation.

EKP had been formed in 1941, but, because of the war and some long legal battles with the commercial power companies, did not become operational until the early fifties.

The school originally was established in 1946 at Earlham College, through a cooperative arrangement, to provide credit and non-credit courses in the area.

But in 1954 East Kentucky Power produced its first power.

It wasn’t until 1956 that the name and the structure were changed to reflect the “Wayne County Extension Service Association”.

Hayes wished to preserve the Arboretum for scientific study and public enjoyment, he created the non-profit Hayes Research Foundation before his death in 1963 and it is now used for educational, scientific, recreational and community participation.

The school originally was established in 1946 at Earlham College, through a cooperative arrangement, to provide credit and non-credit courses in the area. It was called the Earlham College-Indiana University Extension Center until 1967 when Purdue University and Ball State University joined the venture.

Ground was broken for the new home in October 1972 on 230 acres near the intersection of United States 27 and Interstate 70 on the north side of Richmond.

During the years there have been several changes and additions, including an expansion done in 1975 at at cost of approximately $15 1/2 million, which included the eight story Leeds Tower.

Holt worked on the Meter Shop for many years, and in 1996 was named the manager of Research and Development.

The desire for more parking and easier access to merchants in the middle of the blocks caused the city to reopen the street to traffic in 1997.

Hills' Floral Group continued as the recognized leader in the floral industry; hybridizing, growing, distributing, importing, and wholesaling flowers and floral products throughout the United States until 2007.

In 2008, on the 40th anniversary, a film documentary was released.

Created in 2009 as a marketing arm of the business community, the Wayne County Business Association (WCBA) is a membership supported nonprofit 501 (c) (3) organization that advocates on behalf of the business community in Wayne County, Utah.

Holmes-Wayne Electric Cooperative, Inc. paid $2,924,656 in taxes with a revenue of approximately $41,900,331 in 2019.

©2021 by Wayne County Historical Society