With the county agent's office as headquarters and clearinghouse, the farmers begin the tedious job of taking surveys to see who is interested in securing electric power. These surveys are not easy since depression years have left most everyone in bad financial condition, and many farmers cannot see how they can pay a monthly electric bill.

Gibson County EMC borrows $25 from the Gibson County Farm Bureau and secures its original charter from the State of Tennessee. The charter names C.E. Farner, M.O. Zarecor, Denton Fly, H.E. Peek, A.B. Wade, and H.M. Lane as the first trustees.

Mrs. Sammie D. Campbell, the first office employee, is cashier-bookkeeper, while Ernest (Mike) Wade is the first lineman. Some of the early trustees remember borrowing $300 from a local bank to pay these employees until farmers begin to pay their electric bills. TVA's construction crews build the first 105 miles of line, stretching diagonally across Gibson County from the southernmost tip west of Medina to the Churchton community near Gibson and Dyer county lines.

Tom Wingo, the Gibson County agent who worked faithfully with farmers to help get the cooperative started, throws a switch in the south end of the county, and 86 of the first 163 members to sign up for electricity receive it for the first time. Children dance with glee in front of their well-lit homes that night and sing, "We've got lights, we've got lights!" Neighbors look at the brightly lit farms of those who are lucky enough to be on those first lines. They see shiny, new, clean refrigerators and ranges in the kitchen and abundance of clean running water. These things create a desire for this wonderful service by more people and speed up the work to bring lines to all the farm families of Gibson County.

On August 1, 1952, the co-op has 20,159 members.

In the 60s, they receive much needed help in the form of the co-op's first bucket trucks. Their work still is physically demanding and dangerous, but bucket trucks make it easier and safer to perform work on energized lines. The all-electric home becomes a reality for many cooperative members. Nearly 15% of Gibson County EMC members enjoy all-electric heat in their homes, 75% have electric cooking, 50% eat food from an electric freezer and almost 55% enjoy the comforts of electric water heating.

For many years, electric cooperatives host local pageants as part of their annual meetings. In 1970, Miss Gibson County Electric Membership Corporation, Janet Marie Porter, goes on to win the Tennessee state title and the national title of Miss Rural Electrification in Las Vegas, Nevada. She earns a $2,500 scholarship.

Substation ownership helps reduce the co-op's cost of power.

This is expected to save members more than $900,000 and improve system reliability.

Of the co-op's 2,900-plus miles of electric line, 1,600 miles of line north of Madison, south Gibson and Crockett counties are affected by the ice storm. General Manager Jim White describes the damage as "the worst the area has experienced in at least 25 years."

AMI allows the co-op to remotely read a member's power usage through the power lines and fiber system.

This alliance helps Gibson EMC bring added value and benefits to its members.

The funds are used to help build the Crockett County Higher Education Center in Bells and to support the expansion of Williams Sausage Company in Union City.

Pay-Go allows members to pay for electricity in advance. As they use electricity, their credit balance decreases.

Gibson Electric Membership Corporation merges with the former Hickman-Fulton Counties Rural Electric Cooperative Association adding members in four Kentucky counties: Hickman, Fulton, Carlisle and Graves.

Gibson EMC launches join.gibsonconnect.com, a website through which members who are eligible can register to receive broadband service. Eligible members will guide the order of Gibson Connect’s broadband buildout.