When local suppliers refused to provide electric service to rural residents, the residents banded together and built the facilities themselves. Butler Rural Electric Cooperative Association was incorporated on July 21, 1938, and energized its first lines on February 15, 1940. From an original plant value of $146,000, we have grown to a plant value of approximately $60,000,000. We provide electric power to residential, commercial and industrial accounts in portions of Butler, Chase, Cowley, Greenwood, Harvey, Marion, and Sedgwick counties. Electricity brought many changes to rural America, replacing kerosene lanterns and literally bringing the farm out of the darkness. We were an integral part in making our nation's farms the best producing in the world, and we are very proud of our heritage.