Meredith Historical Society to host speech on impact of electrification

MEREDITH – Electricity arrived at Meredith Village late in the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the 1930s that rural sections first received the juice. The Meredith Historical Society will host a program exploring how electricity improved the lives of residents in outlying areas.

Titled Late in Arriving: How Electricity Changed Rural New Hampshire Life, the program will be presented by New Hampshire farmer and journalist Stephen Taylor of Meriden Village. The program is made possible through a generous grant from New Hampshire Humanities.

“Imagine a New Hampshire town,” says the NH Humanities website, “where some people enjoyed the benefits of electricity while others lived with smelly kerosene lamps and smoky box stoves. In New Hampshire, during the first half of the 20th century, residents of developed communities enjoyed the transformative benefits of electric power while those in the sparsely populated regions lived and worked in conditions little changed from the 19th century.

“It took the coming of the New Deal's Rural Electrification Administration and a determined band of farmers to overcome opposition from the established private utilities to create the New Hampshire Electric Cooperative in 1939.”

Taylor is a farmer, newspaperman and longtime public official. He has studied, written, and spoken for many years about New Hampshire's rural culture and the state's agricultural history. With his three sons, he operates a livestock and maple farm in Meriden Village. He has been a newspaper reporter and editor and was founding executive director of the New Hampshire Humanities Council. He served 25 years as the state's commissioner of agriculture. 

“Meredith is historically linked to the Rural Electrification Administration,” said Society President John Hopper. “William J. Neal of Meredith served as a deputy administrator of the REA during the 1930s and ‘40s. Mr. Taylor’s program will give us a new perspective on the work of our native son.”

The program will be held Tuesday, June 4, at the Meredith Community Center, 1 Circle Drive. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for light refreshments. The program begins at 7 p.m. For more information, visit meredithhistoricalsocietynh.org.