December 17, 1914

In a precursor to Harvey Couch’s statewide power company, Malvern (Hot Spring County) and Arkadelphia (Clark County) were linked together by a twenty-two-mile, 22,000-volt electric transmission line. The power plant in Malvern could now power both cities twenty-four hours a day. Residents cheered as lights came on in both cities simultaneously. Couch called his company, which provided the new service, the Arkansas Power Company (it would later become Arkansas Power and Light—AP&L). Couch argued that interconnected power plants could offer continuous service to customers in the event of a problem with one individual power source. He also thought an interconnected power system would help attract more industry to Arkansas.