We want to hear your stories and archive your photos of the electrification of the rural landscape.

Today, electricity is a necessity, powering appliances we use to cook food, clean clothing, comfortably heat and cool our homes and generally make life easier. But less than a century ago, electricity and the appliances it powered were unavailable to most rural Americans. Though widely distributed to urban areas by the 1920s, it took the creation of the Rural Electricification Administration (REA) in 1935 before this underserved section fo the country was able to flip the switch and instantly make life more comfortable.

Click here to e-mail your story or photograph to firstlines@tnelectric.org. Or, if you need more information or you can't e-mail your old photographs, click here for more infomation on how to mail your information.