The Greene County Historical Society will have a shocking program this Friday.

According to the Historical Society, keynote speaker Denise O’Brien Van will highlight the electrification of local farms in Greene County at 12:45pm on Friday at the Scranton Methodist Church. Van says part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was with the passing of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936, which allowed the federal government to provide low-cost loans to farmers who were part of non-profit cooperatives to have electricity brought to their communities. This new program had almost 100 percent connections with farms to the utility by 1950. 

Friday’s free program is open to the public and a meal will be served beforehand at noon for $12. To reserve a meal, contact the Program Coordinator Margaret Hamilton at 515-386-4408 by the end of today. There is no pre-registration for the program.