Reeve Electric Association Plant

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Reeve Electric Association Plant, now the REA Power Plant Museum, is a historic building near Hampton, Iowa. In the 1930s, only about 10% of rural homes had electricity. In March 1936, Hampton began planning rural electrification with federal help to finance power lines and form a cooperative. The plant became the first farmer-owned power plant in the United States to receive a Rural Electrification Administration grant in 1937 and started supplying power in 1938 with four diesel generators. In 1988, the building was donated to the Franklin County Historical Society, which opened a rural and electrical museum there in 1990. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 6, 1990, and designated a National Historic Landmark on December 13, 2024. It is located on Rural Route 1, southwest of Hampton, Iowa.