Leadership Plaza MO281

Flight of Leadership

The two bird-like figures represent the cooperative interaction necessary for true leadership. Working together, all elements of Westminster College have contributed to its enduring history and lasting mission. Marking this sesquicentennial anniversary, the College rises to meet the next century, dedicated to excellence and to provide students with the education that will make them tomorrow's leaders.

---

Wisconsin's First Nuclear-Fueled Electric Generating Plant WI223
Dairyland Power Cooperative in April of 1961 was designated by the Joint Congressional Atomic Energy Commission as eligible to construct and operate a nuclear-fueled electric powner plant as a research and development pilot installation. On June 8, 1962, the Atomic Energy Commission entered into a contract with the Allis-Chalmers Company of Milwaukee for the fabrication of a 50-megawatt facility, now identified as the La Crosse Boiling Water Reactor (LACBWR), and with Dairyland Power Cooperative for its eventual operation. Construction began in May of 1963. On July 11, 1967, at 7:39 in the evening, the reactor achieved its first self-sustaining chain reaction, which ushered Wisconsin into the nuclear age. Operation at full power level was attained on August 1, 1969. After several modifications and numerous tests, it was declared operational for commercial use on February 1, 1971, with a firm capacity of 50 megawatts. Dairyland Power Cooperative acquired full ownership of this nuclear-fueled electric generating facility by its purchase from the Atomic Energy Commission in August of 1973.

---

Wisconsin's First 4-H Club WI175

The Linn Junior Farmers Club was the first 4-H Club organized in Wisconsin. Mrs. May Hatch, local community leader, and Thomas L. Bewick, newly appointed State Boys and Girls Club Leader at the University of Wisconsin organized the club here on the Hatch farm, October 30, 1914.

This club was started five months after Congress passed the Smith-Lever Act which created the Cooperative Extension Service whereby federal, state and county governments participate in the county agent system.

Four boys and three girls attended the first meeting of the club. Membership grew to 21 during the year with projects in livestock, crops, gardening, canning, cooking and sewing.

During this period, similar boys' and girls' clubs were beginning in other states. The movement grew rapidly, and the variety of projects with appeal to rural and urban youth increased. By 1970, four million urban and rural members were participating annually in the nation, and 4-H had spread to 84 countries of the World.

---

Birthplace of Farm Credit KS108
This 280 acres was collateral for the nation's first Federal Land Bank loan made on April 10, 1917 to farmer-stockman A. L. Stockwell. In those days, farmers and ranchers found credit hard to come by. If available, it was often very expensive. . .as much as 10 percent per month. Recognizing the importance of agriculture to our nationÆs economy, congress passed the Federal Farm Loan Act, which was signed, into law by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. The Federal Land Bank, which makes long-term real estate loans to farmers and ranchers, was the first of the three lending institutions which comprise today's cooperative farm credit system. Wichita was granted the first of 12 Federal Land Bank charters nationwide and charges with developing lending programs in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico. In turn, it issued the first local association charter to the Pawnee County National Farm Loan Association of Lamed. Originally started with seed money appropriated by congress the Farm Credit System has long since repaid all government funds. Today, it is entirely owned by the farmers and ranchers it serves.

---

Frist REA Project in Kansas KS111
At this site the first power pole for the Brown-Atchison Electric Cooperative was dedicated in a special ceremony on November 10, 1937. Brown-Atchison was the first rural electric project to energize in Kansas financed by loan funds from the Rural Electrification Administration (REA). On April 1, 1938, central station electricity generated at the Horton Power Plant was sent into the first section of line to farms in Brown and Atchison counties, signaling an end to darkness and drudgery for rural people. Thirty-eight other electric cooperatives followed in Kansas to deliver the wonders of electricity into every rural area of the state. Rural electrification became known as the best "hired hand" the farmer/rancher could have. Few other occurrences have impacted so positively on rural areas as has the rural electrification program. This marker is dedicated to all the rural electric cooperative pioneers in Kansas who proved that working together for their own and the common good, produces a better life for themselves and their neighbors.

---

Munitions Plant W6
In 1918, the United States government purchased twelve square miles of land here to construct a powder-packing plant after negotiating a cooperative effort with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and the Du Pont Engineering Company. Within three months, an army of 6,000 workers cleared the land and constructed roads, rail lines, and warehouses to create what the Richmond Times-Dispatch called the mightiest munition-packing plant in all the world. Members of the Women’s Munition Reserve worked in the powder bag-loading plant. Formally opened on 12 October, Liberty Day, the plant was operating for less than a month before the armstice ending World War I was signed. Production was halved on 26 November and the plant closed shortly thereafter.

---

Rural Electrification WI153
This farm was the first in Wisconsin to obtain central station electric power from a rural electric cooperative. The farm home was constructed and wired for electric service by James Hanold in 1917. The Richland Cooperative Electric Association, incorporated January 8, 1936, energized the first section of its rural electric system built into this area and connected this farm to its lines on May 7, 1937. Loan funds, available to all electric power suppliers to aid in electrifying rural America, were obtained from the rural Electrification Administration, created by executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 11, 1935, and continued as an agency of our federal government by Act of Congress, May 20, 1936.

---

Danish Cooperative Company WI173
On March 28, 1885 one of Wisconsin's first incorporated creameries was organized as the Luck Creamery Company. The "Organization Artikler" were published in Danish in the Polk County Press on November 18, 1885, and printed in English about a month later on December 12. The seven Danish emigrants declared that only members of the corporation could own stock in it, and the sale of one hundred sixty shares at $15 per share was authorized. The first creamery was built eight-tenths of a mile west of here on the north shore of Little Butternut Lake. The first butter maker was a Danish woman who made the butter in large wooden churns. In the early days the farmers brought their milk to the creamery in cans which had glass tubes or gauges on the side, marked down to one-eighth inches. The cream as shown by the gauge was measured and paid for by the inch. The cream was then skimmed off and the farmer kept the skimmed milk. Many groups of farmers adopted the cooperative principle to make dairying a leading industry in Wisconsin.

---

South Greenville Grange No. 225 WI215

Oliver Hudson Kelley organized National Grange, Patrons of Husbandry in Washington D.C., December 4, 1867. The Wisconsin State Grange was organized October 24, 1872 by National Deputy J. C. Abbott.

South Greenville Grange No. 225 was organized by State Deputy James Brainerd, October 27, 1873. Of 500 Granges organized in Wisconsin. South Greenville Grange No. 225 is the oldest continuously active grange and in 1973 was the first to celebrate its Centennial.

The Grange is unique for it first organized on the national level and then on the local level. Patrons of Husbandry, the Grange, is America's and the world's oldest and only rural family fraternity. It aims to serve all the interests of rural and urban people.

The "Granger Laws" regulating monopolies and Grange sponsorship of cooperatives has greatly influenced agricultural and industrial growth.

Erected 1975

---

Nation's First Cooperative Generating Station WI222
On Sunday, May 2, 1937, the Wisconsin Power Cooperative was organized by an assembly of farmers for the purpose of developing a generating and transmission facility to provide low-cost electric service for the rural areas of Buffalo, Chippewa, Clark, Dunn, Pierce, St. Croix, Taylor, and Trempealeau counties. Loans from the Rural Electrification Administration financed construction of the original station and transmission lines. Ground was broken on November 8, 1937, and on March 12, 1938, the nation's first cooperative generating station was ready for service. Transmission of electric energy into Buffalo and Trempealeau counties began on March 14, 1938, and into the remaining six counties by the end of that year. Additional generating units were added by late 1941, providing capacity to serve rural membership in Barron, Burnett, Eau Claire, Jackson, Polk, Rusk, and Sawyer counties. On December 16, 1941, Wisconsin Power Cooperative was merged with the Tri-State Power Cooperative of Genoa to form the Dairyland Power Cooperative of La Crosse. This historic plant was retired from service and dismantled during 1975.

---