‘A National Treasure’: Early Co-op Power Plant Named Historic Landmark
Darcy Maulsby of NRECA
16 September 2025
The REA Power Plant Museum, housed in the former co-op-owned Reeve Power Plant in Iowa, is one of the country’s newest National Historic Landmarks. (Photo Courtesy: Franklin REC)
The following is an excerpt from an article featuring Basin Electric’s Class A member Corn Belt Power Cooperative.
On an isolated gravel road southwest of Hampton, Iowa, a hulking, gray building emerges from the cornfields. While the blocky 1930s structure hints at a bygone era, this is no forgotten relic.
It’s now the REA Power Plant Museum, one of the country’s newest National Historic Landmarks (NHL).
“This is the only plant of this era left in its original condition,” said Darwin Meyer, a member of the Franklin County Historical Society, which owns the museum. “It’s a national treasure.”
NHLs are sites that the U.S. Department of the Interior has determined to be nationally significant in American history and culture. Originally called the Reeve Power Plant, the facility was owned by Federated REA, which was the first electric co-op to receive a generation and transmission loan from the Rural Electrification Administration.
In December 2024, Reeve Power Plant received National Historic Landmark designation as the last remaining original plant built following the 1936 Rural Electrification Act.
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