A moment in time
Can you help us identify this home and these cooperative leaders, shown at a dedication ceremony for a new “snap on” bathroom made possible by co-op electricity? Please contact Lyssa Nelson at (803) 739-5080 if you know when and where this photo was taken. Low-cost renovation projects to install modern indoor plumbing—bathtub, toilet, lavatory and a hot-water heater—in rural homes were part of Gov. John West’s “privy project” anti-poverty initiatives from 1971–1975.
Some of the most iconic moments in American history have been captured on film. Whether it was driving the golden spike to connect the east and west railroads, or the ticker tape parade celebrating VE-Day, or the launch of Apollo 11, there are certain photographic images that connect us to an earlier time and the real lives of people who experienced those moments firsthand.
For many of our parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents, the moment the lights came on in their homes is one of those iconic American memories. For those of us in the 21st century with our 24/7, plugged-in lives, it’s hard to imagine how thrilling it was when rural families first experienced the benefits of electrification. But for those who lived with no refrigerators, no radio or TVs, no air conditioning, no fans and no washing machines, the day electricity arrived changed their lives for good.
Just picture a life in which washing clothes or taking a bath meant pumping water to fill a tub manually because, without electricity, there was no other way to move water from the well and into the house. Or a life that when the sun went down, your only source of light was a lantern or a flickering candle. It wasn’t that electricity didn’t exist in those days. Cities across America were electrified not too long after the invention of the light bulb. But it would be decades before rural South Carolinians began to also reap the benefits of electrification.
With the arrival of electricity, South Carolina’s farm families in the 1940s could finally experience the modern convenience of indoor bathrooms, running water for baths, dishes and laundry that city folk had been enjoying for decades. They could finally enjoy time in the evening hours while reading or sewing in a well-lit room—or gathering around the radio and connecting with the wider world.
One report estimates that rural American women spent 20 more days each year washing clothes—usually by hand in outdoor tubs heated over a fire—than city women who owned electric washers. And a U.S. Department of Agriculture study reported that pumping and carrying water alone took an average of 10 hours per week per family.
For rural South Carolina families, the arrival of electricity was a miraculous moment they would remember for the rest of their lives—and some of them took pictures. Whether it’s a snapshot of the family admiring the new bulb illuminating a once dark room, or Mom proudly standing next to her new electric stove, or the triumphant moment the neighborhood crew hammered the last nail for the new indoor bathroom, these are the photos that captured history in the making.
After 25 years in our facility in Cayce, we recently remodeled our office building, The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina plans to use our lobby and hallways as a place for storytelling, capturing the spirit of the cooperative movement with meaningful images. Will you help us?
We seek images—likely old photographs stored in shoeboxes and albums in your attics and closets—that will help provide a narrative of real people affected by real change brought by the creation of electric cooperatives.
You may have the next iconic image tucked away somewhere that helps tell the story of the change produced through electric cooperatives. If so, please share it with us. Snap a digital picture of your old photograph or make a high-resolution scan, then upload it to SCLiving.coop/history. Please be sure to include information on who’s shown in the picture, when and where it was taken, your name, your contact information and the name of your co-op.
Readers may also email images to Lyssa.Nelson@ecsc.org, or call (803) 739-5080 for instructions on how to send prints by mail. If we select your photo to hang in our lobby or if we publish it in South Carolina Living, we’ll send you a $25 Visa gift card.
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‘The privy project’— Made possible by co-op electricity, “snap on” bathrooms brought modern indoor plumbing to many rural South Carolina homes. Learn how these low-cost renovation projects were part of Gov. John West’s anti-poverty initiatives from 1971–1975.