Visiting the Garfield homestead where rural electrification took root
Before electricity reached the barns and backroads of rural America, a young Clyde Taylor Ellis grew up in a dark farmhouse in northwest Arkansas — unaware he’d one day help light the way.
Born in 1908 and raised in Garfield, Ellis knew firsthand what it meant to grow up in the shadows of opportunity. That foundation drove him to become a congressman and the first general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), the national trade association representing nearly 900 electric cooperatives. His life would, figuratively and literally, help energize communities long left behind.
Today, that same wooded land in Garfield — in Benton County within Carroll Electric Cooperative’s service area — still pulses with stories of a transformative American era. Since 1978, the property has belonged to Don and Beverly Toepfer, who have three children and six grandchildren.
On a warm Monday in early May, the couple — joined by their Shih Tzu, Barney — graciously lead a tour for cooperative visitors eager to see weatherworn pieces of the past.
Don defers to Beverly, a retired nurse, when it comes to the backstory. “She’s the historian,” he says. “She’s the one who’s done all the research on the family and all that.”
The Toepfers learned about the history of their 40-acre property six years after buying it. They met one of Ellis’ sisters, Dorothy Ross, a respected local schoolteacher. Ellis was the oldest of nine children.
“That’s the first time we heard about (Ellis) and his achievements,” Beverly says. “She was telling us, ‘You know my brother was in Congress,’” as well as a staunch advocate for rural electrification.
Early on, investor-owned utilities had little interest in extending service to sparsely populated areas, leaving much of America in the dark — until advocates like Ellis helped organize and empower local cooperatives to do it themselves.
As we reflect on American history and independence this July, it’s a timely moment to remember pioneers like Clyde Ellis — an Arkansan who helped ensure underserved communities weren’t left behind in the nation’s progress.
Rural rise
Though the original Ellis family farmhouse, tucked among trees, has long since collapsed, the land still hums with history. Don, a retired custom home builder, estimates that at about 1,000 square feet, it was quite a home for its time. He says, “When we moved in, I kept saying ‘Let’s fix that old house up.’ It was a neat-looking thing.”
He notes having spotted a small but powerful relic of progress: “I found the old electric meter still on the house. I haven’t touched it, but I know where it is.”
The original smokehouse — once repurposed by the Toepfers as a chicken coop — stands intact. Don demonstrates that the hand-dug well and handpump still draw water, as they did generations ago.
Over the years, members of the Ellis family have come to visit the homestead, sharing tales with the Toepfers, painting a portrait of a hard-working, tightly knit multigenerational family, grounded in discipline, order and togetherness.
“They told stories about building rock walls when they got in trouble,” Beverly recalls. “Clyde and the boys slept in one bedroom with Grandpa. The girls slept with Grandma in another room.”
While Ellis’ journey took him far from the Ozarks, he never strayed from its values. He began his career as an educator and attorney before being elected as a state representative and, later, a state senator.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “As a senator, Ellis began his long association with the rural electrification movement; he played a key role in passing legislation that allowed the state to have electric cooperatives.” (It’s worth noting that, in 1937, Arkansas State Rep. Claude M. Smith co-sponsored the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation Act. Today, Smith’s great-grandson, Bill Gossage, is chief of External Affairs for Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, Inc., the very division responsible for Arkansas Living magazine.)
Ellis was elected as a U.S. representative in 1938 and served until 1943. He ran for the U.S. Senate and lost to John Little McClellan. But his influence didn’t end there. Ellis, who was instrumental in the formation of NRECA, became its first general manager in 1943, battling powerful utility interests that had long overlooked rural America.
Leading the charge
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas article continues: “As general manager of the NRECA, Ellis was known for his political savvy, oratorical skill and ability to get things done. According to ‘The Next Greatest Thing: 50 Years of Rural Electrification in America,’ a book published in 1984 by NRECA, Ellis was the key to the association’s early success: ‘The record of NRECA in those years, stamped with the strong and powerful personality of Ellis and his spellbinding, single-minded leadership, is studded with stunning victories, few defeats.’”
One such victory was very close to home — this home.
Don says, “You know, it was funny. When we moved here, there were two old guys who lived across the road. … They knew the whole family. They told us that this was the first house around here that got electricity.” He adds with his dry sense of humor, “No wonder.”
Carroll Electric President/CEO Rob Boaz gifts the Toepfers a hardback copy of Ellis’ 1966 book, “A Giant Step,” pointing out a particularly poignant passage on page 59. Ellis wrote: “I saw tears roll down my own mother’s cheeks when the lights came on. ‘Oh, if we could have had this while you children were growing up,’ she said. Later I drove her and Dad up the road, at their request, to ‘see the house at night with all the lights on.’”
Boaz says, “Today’s success of the electric cooperative network is a true marvel. But it is difficult to imagine the same success without the contributions of Clyde T. Ellis. His passion was authentic and made all the difference.”
The cooperative is partnering with the Toepfers to preserve and thoughtfully display the water pump — a significant symbol of how electrification changed rural America — as well as other elements of the Ellis homestead. Boaz expresses his thanks: “The Toepfers have been generous in keeping this important story alive for future generations of Carroll Electric professionals. Their cooperation will help amplify the mission our people are committed to fulfilling.”
Ellis retired from NRECA in 1967 but remained active in public service until his death in 1980. In 1989, his legacy was further cemented when Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation dedicated one of its most ambitious generation projects — the Clyde T. Ellis Hydroelectric Generating Station at Barling — in his honor. Each year, NRECA presents the Clyde T. Ellis Award to CEOs who have made exemplary contributions.
Today, Ellis rests at Arlington National Cemetery, but the current he set in motion still runs strong — through the lines and through the lives he helped transform.