Special Collections Department
403 Parks Library
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-2140

MS 443
Corn Belt Power Cooperative
Records, 1948-[ongoing]


Descriptive summary

creator: Corn Belt Power Cooperative
title: Records
dates: 1948-[ongoing]
extent: 3.23 linear feet (1 records center carton, 1 document box, 1 half-document box, 1 oversized box)
collection number: MS 443
repository: Special Collections Department, Iowa State University.

 

Administrative information

access: Open for research
publication rights: Consult Head, Special Collections Department
preferred citation: Corn Belt Power Cooperative Records, MS 443, Special Collections Department, Iowa State University Library.

 

Historical note

The Corn Belt Power Cooperative, incorporated on August 28, 1947, is a generation and transmission (G&T) electric cooperative in northern Iowa that serves the needs of farmers, rural residents, small towns, businesses and industries. The Cooperative began operating in Humboldt, Iowa on April 1, 1948 with five employees and nine diesel plants which had been turned over to the Cooperative by its parent companies, Central Electric Federated Cooperative Association and Federated Cooperative Power Association. Preparations to build a steam plant in Humboldt, Iowa began in 1948, and the plant's first generating unit began initial operations on March 28, 1950.

Plans for its parent cooperatives took place at a meeting of representatives from nine Iowa rural electric cooperatives on February 10, 1937 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Their goal was to avoid the high rates private power companies were insisting the power cooperatives pay. The Reeve Plant of the Federated Cooperative Power Association was the first generation plant to be financed by the Rural Electric Administration.

The Corn Belt Power Cooperative now supplies electricity to 12 member cooperatives in 28 counties in northern Iowa. In addition to a wholly owned coal-fired plant and a gas combustion turbine generator, the Cooperative also holds partial ownership of Iowa's only nuclear power plant, the Duane Arnold Energy Center, located near Palo, Iowa. The Cooperative also has access to renewable energy sources such as wind and hydroelectric power.

 

Collection description

The collection (1948-[ongoing]) contains annual reports, newsletters, information booklets and a microfilm of various scrapbooks which contain newspaper clippings, announcements and photographs. The annual reports contain reports on the operations and financial statistics of the Cooperative for that year. The Watts Watt newsletters include news and announcements on maintenance and construction, facilities and lines, meetings, member cooperatives, employees and a variety of information relevant to electric cooperatives, such as related research. Information on electric cooperatives in general and some of the Corn Belt Power Cooperative's facilities can be found in the information booklets.

 

Organization

The collection is organized alphabetically.

 

Container list

Box

Folder

Title

Dates

1

1-10

Annual Reports

1948-2013

2

11

Humboldt Republican Press Release for Corn Belt Power’s Annual Meeting

1960

2

8

Information Booklet: Earl F. Wisdom Station

1961

2

7

Information Booklet: More Power for Iowa Farms (Humboldt Plant)

1950

2

9

Information Booklet: Mrs. Farmer Lends a Hand

1950

2

10

Information Booklet: This is Rural Iowa

1962

4

1

Scrapbooks : Microfilm

1948-1963

1

11-27

Watts Watt Newsletters

1955-1989

3

1-18

Watts Watt Newsletters

1971-2012

2

1-6

Watts Watt Newsletters

1990-2008

2

12

Watts Watt Newsletters

2009-2011

2

13

Watts Watt Newsletters

2012-2015