Electric Power Plant and Distribution – Aberdeen MS

Description

Public Works Administration (PWA) 1203 approved a loan of $66,000 and grant of $54,000 for a new electric power plant. The project was approved 11/14/1935. Construction began 10/10/1938 and was completed 10/4/1939. The delay between approval and construction was due to the Mississippi Power Company attempting to prevent Aberdeen from securing the money from PWA to construct the plant and connect with Tennessee Valley Authority’s power lines. It was dismissed in lower court and then upheld in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in April 1938. By July 1938, Aberdeen City Council offered Mississippi Power $60,000 to purchase their existing lines in Aberdeen and engaged an engineering firm. By July 10, 1939, the plant at Aberdeen was 95% completed and TVA had already begun sending power through the lines in early May when the project was dedicated and new power switched on. Bethune Electric Company of Birmingham, Alabama completed the new system.