This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
of Broadband


Top: Cindy Hefner, NEOEC manager of public relations, stands in the CORE Data Center. Photos by Laura Araujo


Bottom: Fiber optic cable, made of glass, is thinner than human hair and is much faster and more durable than cable.


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If viewing our digital edition, click here to learn more about the CORE Data Center, a state-of-the-art data center in rural Oklahoma. Access our digital edition at www. ok-living.coop or find our FREE app at the Apple Newsstand Google Play or Amazon.


By Laura Araujo


ost travelers bypass Afton, Okla., as they speed east and west along the Will Rogers Turnpike in northeast Oklahoma. Those who detour off the highway will find a


town that has been left behind in time. With a popula- tion of just over 1,000, Afton has been listed as a Route 66 ghost town by Reader’s Digest.


After the construction of I-44, the once-vibrant com- munity experienced decline. A drive through the town reveals burnt-out buildings with boarded windows and rusty signs. Afton Station, a D-X Gas Station construct- ed in 1933, sticks out from the dilapidated downtown. The restored building—now a museum for classic cars and Route 66 memorabilia—stands as a monument to more prosperous days along the Mother Road. The town of Afton was born in the late 19th century after the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad built tracks through Northeast Oklahoma. Just after the turn of the century, another rail line constructed tracks through the area, establishing Afton as a railroad center. Soon schools, banks, restaurants, hotels and a number of ag- riculture-related businesses sprung up in the growing community. With the construction of Route 66 in the 1920s and ‘30s, more service stations and motels popped


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The Power Bolt Fiber Optic Services empowers communities in northeast Oklahoma


up to accommodate travelers. At its peak, Afton was home to more than 1,500 residents.


About the time the town of Afton was booming, rural families in the vicinity were still in the dark. Investor- owned electric utilities found it too expensive to expand infrastructure into the Oklahoma countryside. That changed in the mid-1930s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Act saying, “Electricity is a modern necessity of life, not a luxury. That necessity ought to be found in every village, in every home and on every farm in every part of the United States.” Congress passed the Act in 1936. It provided federal loan funds for the construction of distribution systems to bring electricity to unreached areas of the country. In 1938, a group of rural residents in Northeast Oklahoma joined forces to bring electricity to their farms and families. This cooperative became known as Northeast Oklahoma Electric Cooperative (NEOEC). From its founding days, NEOEC’s mission has been to improve the quality of life of its members. It has carried out this mission for three-quarters of a century by providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity. Today, however, fulfilling this assignment has an added means—offering high-speed internet to rural Oklahomans.


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