In 1940, when much of Europe was already embroiled in World War II but America still sat on the sidelines, the important issue in the area around Wake Forest was getting electricity into the homes and farms. Carolina Power & Light thought farmers could never earn enough to pay for power; a lot of local farmers thought the company was wrong.
Empowered by the 1935 Rural Electrification Act, they had been going from door to door, from church meeting to church meeting urging their neighbors to sign up with the newly formed Wake Electric Membership Corporation at $5 a family.
People were signing up, and the poles and lines began snaking their way through the countryside. But then came Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, and everyone turned to the war effort.
Learn about the beginnings of this valued part of Wake and other counties on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 2 to 5 p.m. – note the different time – when the Wake Forest Historical Association presents a program about WEMC in the cooperative’s new building on Franklin Street. Parking is in the back of the building; enter the driveway off Wait Avenue and drive behind the green-roofed WEMC building there.
The meeting is free and open to all. There will be a display of early photographs by L.K. Stephenson and others, a panel discussion by men who remember their parents’ struggles to begin the cooperative, and tours through the building, the customer service site. There will be refreshments.
