Most Americans today cannot conceive of living their lives without uninterrupted electricity, accessed simply by flicking a switch. However, during the early 1900s, most farms, ranches, and rural homes across the United States still lacked access to the utility-generated power that was used by the inhabitants of cities and large towns. The utilities did not believe the economics were there to justify their investment in running hundreds of thousands of miles of copper lines to those remote locations where electricity usage was minimal. Even by the start of the 1930s, it was estimated by the federal government that eight out of nine of the estimated six million farms across the United States were without utility power.
A Delco-Light dealer vehicle, ca. 1930.
Charles Kettering and his management team realized the huge market potential throughout the United States for Delco-Light plants when they started manufacturing in 1916. To take advantage of this opportunity, the Delco-Light Company rapidly built a large, sophisticated network of salesmen and installers in every corner of the United States. The company provided its thousands of salesmen and installers with the latest colorful trade literature and instruction manuals which ensured a consistent approach to sales and installation of Delco-Light plants. These salesmen and installers were further invited to annual conventions which not only fostered comradery but taught proper sales and installation techniques and introduced them to the latest Delco-Light plants and those in production.
Delco-Light Summer Salesmen School in Chicago in 1926.
The Delco-Light Company taught its salesmen about the importance of meeting with farmers and other rural homeowners in person to explain and even show them the household and labor-saving benefits of owning a Delco-Light plant. Some salesmen set up elaborate displays at county fairs to provide live demonstrations of these light plants, including stringing lightbulbs, powering radios, and operating household appliances—all from a charged 32-volt battery set. The goal was to physically show rural inhabitants that “Delco-Light brings city conveniences to the country.” The process of extracting a sale, however, was not easy. Some people were worried about the dangers of electricity, while others could not see themselves affording the several-hundred-dollar price tag for one of these machines. However, the best salesmen sold hundreds of these within their areas, when in 1929 the company could boast of sales surpassing 325,000 units.
Delco-Light plant display, ca.1926.
In the early 1930s, wind generator manufacturers joined the farm electric light plant and became quite the success in the windy Great Plains states. Some of the biggest names included Jacobs Wind Electric Company, Wincharger Corporation, Wind Power Light Company, and Parris-Dunn Corporation. The wind electric plants would be sold alone or to work with a “Delco-Light” plant to reduce fuel use and engine runtime.
In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Rural Electric Administration as an “emergency agency” by executive order “to carry electricity to as many farms as possible in the shortest possible time and have it used in quantities sufficient to affect rural life.” The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 transformed it to a permanent agency. In the next two years $210 million was spent on 100,000 miles of power lines to provide electricity to 220,000 farms—$950 per home. At the time $950 was 55 percent of the average annual wage of $1,713 or 24 percent of the average cost of a new home of $3,925 and the population was 128 million with 40 percent, or 51 million, living in rural areas. The cost would bring 60 amps of electricity to farms and country homes and businesses who would be charged a monthly service fee and for each unit of electricity.
Workmen of the Gustav Hirsch in Columbus, Ohio, install rural electric power lines in 1956.
It sounded good, except that no one mentioned that Delco-Light and other farm and wind electric light plants were providing electricity to nearly one million farms in America already. An individual could purchase a Delco-Light plant for $495, a Jacobs wind plant for $595, or both using a single battery bank for less than the $950 to run the power lines from the city—and never have a monthly electric bill. The effect on the farm and wind electric plant industry was immediate. Hundreds of manufacturers throughout the country, in addition to the distribution, sales, installation, and service employing hundreds of thousands of people were quickly shuttered or steered to new products. Idled farm electric light plants were either scrapped or left to decay.
Delco-Light plant display, ca. 1926.