It was an event almost 200 years in the making.
Benjamin Franklin conducted his famous kite experiment on June 10, 1752, but electricity didn’t reach the most rural regions of western Pike County until 1938. The Goshen Substation, a part of Southeast Alabama Electric Cooperative, was constructed just months after the Co-op was founded. The Substation finally brought electricity to the country residents near the town of Goshen.
Long-time Goshen resident Oris Sanders remembers the days leading up to flipping the switch.
“We already had a water pump and the bathroom fixtures ready to go when it became available,” Sanders said. “They had electricity in Goshen a few years earlier from Alabama Power, but we didn’t get out in the country until 1938. Some folks didn’t get it until way later than that.”
The Southeast Alabama Electric Cooperative was founded in June of 1937, and currently has over 2,630 miles of electrical lines strung throughout southeast Alabama.
The SAEC serves homes and businesses in Pike, Coffee, Bullock, Butler, Dale, Crenshaw and Montgomery counties.
But some of the first miles of lines were strung from Goshen to the west. The substation switch was flipped at 11:26 a.m. on April 4, 1938, and almost instantly 170 co-op members stepped in to the modern world.
“We were sure glad to get it,” said Sanders. “We all thought we were big timing when we could flip the switch.”
The Goshen Substation, located just steps from the Goshen Town Hall on Montgomery Street, continues to serve members of western Pike County to this day. Goshen Mayor Jack Waller, who grew up in Selma, said there is no doubt the swwubstation has had an impact on the town and nearby communities.
“We have gone through several hurricanes and it always seems like we are one of the first places to get power back because they know the substation is important,” said Waller with a chuckle. “That certainly is a good thing.”
The Alabama Historic Commission dedicated the substation as a historic site in 1987.