A look back

Our History

Tipmont was incorporated in 1939. Take a look at our rich history.

Our History Timeline

Originally published in 1999.

1930s

During the 1930s, people in rural America wanted the modern convenience of electricity at their homes and farms. At that time, barely over 10% of U.S. farms had electricity. In 1935, the United States Congress passed the Rural Electrification Administration Act, which provided funding at a low interest rate to establish electric utilities, generally known as cooperatives. In the state of Indiana, these cooperatives were to be called Rural Electric Membership Corporations, and the Indiana Farm Bureau took on the task of organizing these corporations across the state — including what became Tipmont.

1938

Assisted by local farm bureau representatives, an organizational meeting took place on August 15, 1938, at the Romney School. About 40 people from the northern half of Montgomery County and the southern half of Tippecanoe County attended and were asked to sign as incorporators. Wilson Taylor of the Statewide REMC also attended and discussed organizing a local district corporation under the Indiana Rural Electric Membership Corporation Act. This group also elected the first Board of Directors — John H. Bone, Ray Fisher, John Frantz, Howard Newton, Earl Patterson, Roy Wells and Lewis J. Withrow.

Local meetings were called in each township to secure members and report back to an area meeting on August 26, 1938, at Linden School. By this time, more than 1,000 people had paid membership fees. At this meeting, John Cassida, John P. Foresman, Jesse P. Graves, Will A. Gray, John Kerkhoff and Clarence A. Sennett also were named to the Board of Directors.

A few months later, when residents in Fountain County and northern Tippecanoe County signed up for membership, Lawrence Layden and Guy Simpson, respectively, represented those areas. Reid Paddack took Fisher’s place on the board shortly thereafter, and incorporation papers were prepared.

The chosen name for the corporation was Tippecanoe and Montgomery Rural Electric Membership Corporation. In time, and on the advice of the Rural Electric Administration (REA), the name was shortened to Tipmont REMC. The REA designed our project as “Indiana 55 Tippecanoe.”

Administration Act, which provided funding at a low interest rate to establish electric utilities, generally known as cooperatives. In the state of Indiana, these cooperatives were to be called Rural Electric Membership Corporations, and the Indiana Farm Bureau took on the task of organizing these corporations across the state — including what became Tipmont.

1939

On May 10, 1939, Tipmont REMC was incorporated. At the first meeting of the Board of Directors, Bone was elected President, Newton was elected Vice President, and Wells was elected Secretary-Treasurer.

The Statewide REMC sent Verle Hiatt to prepare project maps. He became the project superintendent and, later, Tipmont REMC’s first general manager — serving in that capacity for about 18 months. Before lines could be staked, property owners had to sign right-of-way easements, areas had to be cleared of trees and brush, and the REA had to approve all construction projects.

Putman and Woolpert, an REA-approved engineering firm from Dayton, Ohio, was selected to stake the lines. The first stakes were set on August 1, 1939, and the first pole was set about October 1, 1939. Honold & LaPage, Inc., of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, built the first 180 miles of Tipmont lines.

Holes for poles were dug by hand, and linemen had to physically climb poles (wearing straps and safety belts) to attach wires. Paul Antle was hired for maintenance work and served as interim project manager. Tipmont’s growth as a cooperative created need for a line superintendent, and Antle served in that capacity until his death in 1962.

Mary E. Shanklin was Tipmont’s first bookkeeper and stenographer. As the project grew, more office employees were hired — including Susie Antle, Fred E. Baber, Lela Imler, Martha Montgomery, Margaret Phipps, La Vern Rickey and Claude Smith. During World War II, the cooperative lost several male employees who served their country.

Early maintenance and field employees included Kenneth Hartman, Wallace Hood, Andrew Johnson, Roy Meharry, Russell Payne, George Simmons, Buren C. Stewart, Ed Street, Roy Wells and James Wright. Some of them worked to obtain signed right-of-way easements so poles could be set and lines built while others performed wiring inspections and hooked up services to primary lines. Mary Ellen Meharry, Roy’s wife, remembers the times she and Susie Antle joined their husbands to hold flashlights so linemen could make repairs during nighttime outages.

As Tipmont grew, the Board of Directors faced many major decisions, such as acquiring sufficient office space, purchasing office equipment and vehicles, protecting legal documents, and determining the line materials, transformers and meters to use. Because they were manufactured in Lafayette, the board chose Duncan meters.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1939

Tipmont REMC has been housed in four buildings.

The first office was a small building on the west side of Highway 231, just north of where the Linden Post Office now stands. The now-vacant building was a dentist office for several years and later was an antique and craft shop.

After outgrowing that space, Tipmont headquarters moved across the street to the building that housed Linden Radio & TV shop for several years.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1940

The Board of Directors also felt members needed a monthly update on what was happening at their cooperative, so they began a newsletter. In November 1940, they offered a prize of one free electric bill (not to exceed $5) to the consumer who submitted the best name for this newsletter. The winning entry came from Robert Berry of Hillsboro, who submitted “Tips of the Month.”

Beginning in 1940, Tipmont members met annually in Linden on the third Monday of February. The purpose was to elect directors to the board through ballots, provide members with the previous year’s fiscal reports, and conduct any other business that may fall on the meeting agenda.

HISTORY: ANNUAL MEETINGS

1941

Held on February 17, 1941, at the Linden School, Tipmont REMC’s first Annual Meeting was attended by 104 members — which was 6.6% of total membership, which had grown to 1,564 members by that time. At the time, Jesse P. Graves was elected President, a position he held until his death in 1954.

Among the interesting statistics shared with members at this meeting:

There were 1,918 meters billed.
The average monthly bill was $3.13.
The cost per kWh was $01.222 cents.
The total miles of energized line were 741 miles, with 2.6 consumers per mile
The revenue per mile of line was $8.09.

Traditionally, the Annual Meeting was a daylong event during the week that included a guest speaker, entertainment from the area and “big-name” entertainment, in addition to reports from the Board of Directors and the general manager. The Linden Band Parents served a lunch of ham sandwiches, potato salad, baked beans and cherry pie. Due to the increase of more non-farm accounts, the board voted in 1963 to move the daylong Annual Meeting to a Saturday at Coal Creek High School to facilitate increased membership attendance.

As the cooperative, and its number of suburban accounts grew, the board felt an evening meeting would allow even more members to attend. Over time, meetings were held at North Montgomery High School, Lafayette Jefferson High School, McCutcheon High School and the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds — the last of which serves as the current location for the Annual Meeting.

HISTORY: ANNUAL MEETINGS

1943

In 1943, the board purchased Battle Ground service lines from the Southeastern Power Company. The purchase price did not exceed the per-member cost of present, existing lines less the cost of rebuilding the lines to be purchased.

1947

In fall 1947, a two-way radio system was installed between the office and the field trucks. Prior to that, linemen would visit the local telephone office and call the Linden office to see if there were any further outages in a particular area before they left.

Also in 1947, the board voted to purchase the stock of the Montgomery Light and Power Company, which included the towns of Linden, New Richmond and Wingate, as well as surrounding rural areas.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1950

At the 1950 Annual Meeting, board President Jesse P. Graves announced the purchase of ground on the west side of Highway 231 at the south edge of Linden, on which a new headquarters would be built. An open house for the new building took place on December 15, 1951, and the building dedication read:

“To advance the position of Agriculture. To enrich the life of the community. To free men and women from the heavy drudgery of the farm and home. As a part of their rural electric system, this building is dedicated to the farmers to whom it supplies the blessing of electricity.”

This building served Tipmont REMC needs for 30 years and is now the home to the North Montgomery School Corporation office.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

HISTORY: STORMS

1950s

Storms always play havoc with utility companies, causing abnormal (and sometimes costly) outages. Tipmont REMC has had its fair share.

In the summer of 1950, one such storm caused an unusual number of outages. An ice storm in April 1957 was the most destructive in history at that time, costing some $6,000 to rebuild and restore service to members.

HISTORY: STORMS

1960s

By the mid-1960s, the cooperative was growing rapidly in Tippecanoe County. At this time, the board addressed a need to dispatch service trucks more quickly from northern Tippecanoe County to lessen outage response times. They purchased land along County Road 600 North and built a garage / warehouse for trucks, material and equipment.

The end of the 1960s brought many changes to the electrical industry — namely the marketing of Total Electric Living homes, home electronics and all kinds of small electric appliances to consumers. To answer questions about these new appliances, and promote their use, Tipmont’s board added a home economist to the member service staff. This person visited area schools and attended community meetings to teach consumers about these new “gadgets” everyone wanted and offer advice and expertise on planning and building state-of-the-art homes in rural and suburban communities.

HISTORY: STORMS

1960s – 70s

The Palm Sunday tornado of 1964 caused much destruction in Montgomery and Clinton counties. Ice storms in January 1967 and on Good Friday in 1975 also did their share of damage.

HISTORY: STORMS

1970s

Until the late 1970s, designated community members took outage calls. Members would phone their area trouble call reporter, who would report information to Tipmont REMC and often return a call to the member with information regarding their outage. These reporters, who took outage calls at all times of the day and night, were not on Tipmont REMC’s payroll. They felt it was their civic duty to supply line crews with necessary information to quickly restore their neighbors’ electricity.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1981

In June 1981, Tipmont REMC moved into its current headquarters building, at 403 S. Main St. in Linden. Over two days, Red Ball Movers relocated office equipment and records without ever closing the office. Employees were stationed at both locations until each department had completed the move. In 1997, remodeling work updated the office area, enlarged the customer service area, and allowed supervisors to have their own offices.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

HISTORY: STORMS

1991

In March 1991, west-central Indiana was hit with the worst ice storm in its history. About 65% of Tipmont REMC membership lost electricity, with Tippecanoe County, Clinton County and northern Fountain County the hardest hit. Tipmont received aid from cooperatives in southern Indiana and surrounding states for almost two weeks to restore service. Many miles of lines had to be built from the beginning, and suppliers delivered much-needed materials around the clock.

HISTORY: STORMS

2013

The November 2013 EF-3 tornado in southern Tippecanoe County with estimated peak winds of 120 MPH affected over 17,500 of our members and required the replacement of over 100 poles. Thanks to the dedication and professionalism of Tipmont’s staff, power was restored to all members within five days.

HISTORY: STORMS

Today

Tipmont is the 5th largest REMC in Indiana, serving over 29,000 meters and growing to more than 25,000 members.

Our History Timeline

Originally published in 1999.

1930s

1938

1939

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1939

Tipmont REMC has been housed in four buildings.

After outgrowing that space, Tipmont headquarters moved across the street to the building that housed Linden Radio & TV shop for several years.

1940

HISTORY: ANNUAL MEETINGS

1941

Among the interesting statistics shared with members at this meeting:

There were 1,918 meters billed.
The average monthly bill was $3.13.
The cost per kWh was $01.222 cents.
The total miles of energized line were 741 miles, with 2.6 consumers per mile
The revenue per mile of line was $8.09.

1943

1947

Also in 1947, the board voted to purchase the stock of the Montgomery Light and Power Company, which included the towns of Linden, New Richmond and Wingate, as well as surrounding rural areas.

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1950

This building served Tipmont REMC needs for 30 years and is now the home to the North Montgomery School Corporation office.

HISTORY: STORMS

1950s

Storms always play havoc with utility companies, causing abnormal (and sometimes costly) outages. Tipmont REMC has had its fair share.

1960s

HISTORY: STORMS

1960s – 70s

The Palm Sunday tornado of 1964 caused much destruction in Montgomery and Clinton counties. Ice storms in January 1967 and on Good Friday in 1975 also did their share of damage.

1970s

HISTORY: HEADQUARTERS

1981

HISTORY: STORMS

1991

HISTORY: STORMS

2013

More History

Interesting Tidbits

During the month of January 1942, 350 consumers used over 100 kWh each.

Tipmont has had four line superintendents: Paul Antle, Jim Wright, Bill Bridges, and Steve Burkle.

In 1950, Mr. and Mrs. Don Irvin of Wingate built the first Total Electric Living home on Tipmont lines.

Volume 2, Book 1 of the Tips of the Month honor roll represented consumers who used more than 100 kWh during December 1940. Robert Howell used over 1,000 kWh that month, which was more than double the amount used by Wea High School.

The February 1942 issue of Tips of the Month listed some appliances purchased after members received their electrical service. These included ranges, water heaters, refrigerators, washing machines, pumps, radios, vacuum sweepers, corn poppers, irons, clocks, toasters, mixers, waffle irons, sewing machines, coffee makers, electric motors, poultry water warmers, percolators and heaters. Smaller appliances purchased in smaller quantities included heating pads, drills, soldering irons, hair dryers, sandwich grilles, razors, curling irons, tea kettles, and trains.

The operating report for January 1940 stated 19 farm accounts and one commercial account billed. Total billing for the month was $28.32 for total usage of 399 kWh.

La Vern Meese worked for five general managers, retiring in 1991 after working more than 40 years.

In 1967, Tipmont employees were honored for one million hours without a lost-time accident.

Tipmont’s first bucket truck was purchased and delivered in the summer of 1967. Prior to bucket trucks, line trucks had electric ladders for linemen to use instead of climbing a pole.

At the 1964 Annual Meeting, capital credit checks were issued for members from 1942 and 1943.

Tipmont has had five legal counsels: Harvey B. Hartsock, Roy Street, Charles Kemmer, Jeff Helmerick, and Brian Garrison.

Roy Meharry participated in signing up Tipmont members at the beginning of the REMC. He was employed as an electrical inspector / lineman and served for several years on the Board of Directors.

1939 rates:

2 cents per kWh (over 230 kWh per month)
Minimum monthly charge was $2.50 for 5-kva transformer
7.5 cents per kWh (first 30 kWh per month)
5 cents per kWh (next 30 kWh per month)
3 cents per kWh (next 170 kWh per month)

1999 rates:

Facility Charge $10 per month
First 500 kWh per month @ 7.48 cents per kWh
Next 1000 kWh per month @ 5.6 cents per kWh
Over 1500 kWh per month @ 5.0 cents per kWh
Minimum monthly charge is $10 for 10-kva transformer.