Franklin D. Roosevelt signed executive order for establishment of Rural Electrification Admin (REA) bringing power to rural America.

Country store owner J.B. Sims went farm to farm looking for people willing to sign up with REA for $5. Around 190 willing participants in McDonald County agreed to be part of Carroll Electric in Arkansas. Frank Darnell from the Newton County extension office wanted to recruit people to be a part of Ozark Electric in Mt Vernon. A REA representative said there would be enough resources to start their own Co-op if enough people agreed. 505 willing participants created New-Mac Electric Cooperative.

Articles of Corporation were signed along with the first Board of Directors selected, including J.B. Sims. Opened first New-Mac office on top of First National Bank in Neosho.

On Valentine's Day, Lester Pitman was the first New-Mac member to get power. In 3 years, over 1,000 members were receiving power.

In 1959 the New-Mac office was moved to Highway 86 and, at that time, the cooperative was serving nearly 6,000 members.

On Christmas Day the most damaging ice storm hits New-Mac territory up to that point, with around 5,000 outages and over a 13 day span.

New-Mac Electric opens second office in Anderson to help serve 13,000 members and 2,500 miles of line.

After outgrowing it current headquarters after 38 years, New-Mac moved to the new location just east of the old building on Highway 86.

As time goes on, the cooperative experiences large growth due to the construction of Highway 71 through McDonald County. Major retailers and restaurants move in thanks to the Highway.

In January 2007, New-Mac faced the worst ice storm in it's history. Around 14,000 members (out of the 17,000) members were without power. Some members were out nearly 12 day. The Co-op received help from 20 assisting companies from 11 different states.

11 months later in December of 2007, another ice storm hit the New-Mac system. This caused 5,000 members to lose power for over 4 days.

In 2008 a tornado ripped through the New-Mac service, area with the largest damage being focused around the Racine area and additional damage across Newton County. The storm broke around 400 poles, causing 9,000 members to go without power for over 4 days.

One of the deadliest tornados in history ripped through Joplin, killing 161 people. Most of the damage was focused inside the city limits, but around 4,000 New-Mac members lost power in Newton and McDonald Counties.

For 87 years, New-Mac Electric Cooperative has remained committed to the same purpose we were built on: serving our members with reliable, affordable and safe electricity.

Since May 10, 1939, our cooperative has grown and changed, but our mission has stayed steady. We are proud to continue investing in the people, places and communities we serve, while working every day to provide dependable power and member-focused service for generations to come.