Utilities In Beckville

By Jed Dorman Submitted by Sally Metcalf Dawson

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It was in 1908 that Mr. Neal Crawford installed the first electric light system in Beckville. This was a private venture. He used a 20 horsepower engine with 220 direct current voltage. During the first years that Beckville had electricity, the power went on at dark and off at eleven in the evening. There were two afternoons a week that people had electrical power to do the ironing that needed to be done.

Mr. Crawford operated this plant for seven years with the help of Mr. Irby Driskell. After that time he sold it to Mr. Driskell for $900.00. Later it was sold to East Texas Public Service Company, which in 1926, sold to Southwestern Electric Power Company. Today it is known as SWEPCO and continues to furnish electrical power to a vast area.

In the late 1930’s and 1940’s the R.E.A. began to extend electric lines to the communities around Beckville. By 1943 three communities were enjoying the convenience of electricity. It was as late as 1948 when other communities had rural electrification.

For some years after electricity became available, people used it only to operate such equipment as irons, water pumps, refrigerators, and lighting their homes. Today, electrical power is used for a much wider variety of appliances.

Mr. Gene Campbell, the depot agent, installed a home water system using an electric pump in 1922. Other people in the community became interested in this project and in a few years all of the best homes had electric water pumps. Once the people acquired water pumps for their well, they had bathrooms installed. Individual water pumps were installed because there was no municipal water plant in Beckville.

In 1947 the Beckville Independent School District drilled a deep water well and put up a tank to provide water for school use. The town of Beckville laid water lines in 1950 and began using water from the school well. In order to be able to finance a sewage system, the city bought the well and tank from the school district about 1962 or 1963. Beckville now owned a municipal water plant.

The first and only picture show to locate in Beckville was operated from a Delco light plant and was owned by Mr. Ross of Carthage.

antiquephone_030.gif (43465 bytes)According to Mr. Irby Driskell, J.C. Lacy built the first telephone lines in Beckville about 1898. The telephone office was a booth in Shivers Drug and Hardware. Mr. Driskell was the first telephone operator. The Mid-West Telephone Company began operating here in 1916 and in the late thirties sold out to General Telephone Company of the Southwest. Rural telephones were very popular during the years of prosperity and a line was extended into each community in the Beckville area. At one time there were twenty-seven boxes on one of these lines. When money became scarce many of the rural boxes were disconnected. There was a Western Union Telegraph at the depot and the depot agent served as operator. Only local messages were delivered to the doors, others were read over the phone or mailed out.

In the early forties, the people began to use butane gas for cooking and for heating their homes. It was especially convenient because at that time the labor shortage made it difficult to obtain wood. It was in the mid 1950’s that United Gas Company began supplying gas to Beckville. The company changed their name to Entex Gas Company later and is still furnishing the town with gas in 1983.

dozer2.gif (889 bytes)The days without modern conveniences are almost forgotten as we continue to move forward into the space age.