about us
Mid Century Telephone Cooperative was incorporated on August 24, 1950. The purpose of incorporation was to enable the organization to acquire and provide modern telephone service for various exchanges which could not otherwise obtain good telephone service, either by rebuilding their own exchange or by convincing the Bell Company and other systems to provide the service for them. In 1949, a general area meeting was held in the Cuba High School gymnasium. From the representatives attending that meeting, nine (9) directors were elected, whose job it became to incorporate the company and to take the necessary steps to obtain information as to how capital could be raised in order that a telephone company could be formulated and set up. At a meeting held August 14, 1950, the name Mid Century Telephone Co-operative was chosen for the new organization. Also at this meeting it was deemed advisable to set up the incorporation. The first officers of Mid Century were:
- Sidney Smith, Delong, President
- John Wherley, Astoria, Vice President
- Dale Bryan, Marietta, Secretary
- Alva Davis, Avon, Treasurer
- L.C. Groat, Manager of Spoon River Electric Co-operative was appointed Registered Agent
- Clyde E. Eskridge of Spoon River Electric Co-operative was appointed Assistant to Registered Agent
Following a review of the various possibilities of acquiring sufficient exchanges to begin a Telephone Company and further investigation to determine how capital could be raised. It was deemed advisable to contact the Rural Electrification Administration whose structure had been changed in 1949 to permit the borrowing of funds (from REA) for the construction of telephone plants in small communities and rural areas.
Shortly thereafter, a resolution was adopted to make application to REA for sufficient loan funds to construct telephone systems at Table Grove and Marietta. The first REA loan granted to the Cooperative was in the amount of $280,000.00. These funds were used to construct modern telephone facilities in the Table Grove and Marietta exchanges; serving at the time 219 subscribers and 94 subscribers. Following this, the Cooperative acquired fourteen (14) other small telephone companies in Fulton, Knox, Stark, Henry and Peoria Counties, with the last being June 9, 1962. Then 45 years later, in August 2007, Mid Century acquired Yates City Telephone and incorporated the exchange directly into the existing Cooperative. The attached table shows complete list of Acquisitions, date acquired, date cut-over, number of subscribers at time of dial conversion and other interesting facts.
An Annual Meeting of Members is held in September to keep the membership informed of cooperative happenings, election of directors and any other business that is brought forth. At the 2011 Annual Meeting a vote was taken by the membership to reduce the number of directors to seven (7) from nine (9), and the districts were re-assigned.