Arkansas Power & Light Company
Arkansas Power & Light (AP&L) was a public utility and political powerhouse in the state of Arkansas.
The company was founded by Harvey Couch Sr. in 1914. Couch's successor was Hamilton Moses.
The company was instrumental in the rural electrification movement in the state.
In 1933 AP&L owned forty-three miles of electric street trolley lines in central Arkansas, carrying a total of 10.5 million passengers. The 1935 Public Utility Holding Company Act and World War II rationing pressured AP&L into divesting itself of electric trolleys owned through its wholly-owned Capital Transportation Company. The company and its franchise were transferred to P. E. McChesney and the Courtesy Transportation Company on November 14, 1950, which in turn was reorganized as the Capitol Transit Company operated by F. Norman Hill.
Around mid-century the Arkansas Power and Light power land took up a large block bounded by North Gaines, West Garland, North Arch, and the Arkansas River. The plant burned fuel oil, natural gas, and coal to make electricity.
References
- Diane D. Blair and Jay Barth, Arkansas Politics and Government, second ed. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2005), 126.
- William Jordan Patty, "'Victory Based on Violence is Undesirable': The Little Rock Bus Strike of 1955-1956," Arkansas Historical Quarterly 61.3 (Autumn 2002): 233-255.
