Mid Century Telephone Co-operative was incorporated on August 14, 1950. The purpose of incorporation was to enable the organization to acquire and provide modern telephone service for various exchanges which could not otherwise obtain good telephone service, either by rebuilding their own exchange or by convincing the Bell Company and other systems to provide the service for them. In 1949, a general area meeting was held in the Cuba High School gymnasium. From the representatives attending that meeting, nine (9) directors were elected, whose job it became to incorporate the Company and to take the necessary steps to obtain information as to how capital could be raised in order that a telephone company could be formulated and set up. At a meeting held August 14, 1950, the name Mid Century Telephone Co-operative was chosen for the new organization. Also at this meeting it was deemed advisable to set up the incorporation.
First Officers of Mid Century Telephone Co-operative:

Sidney Smith, Delong, President.
John Wherley, Astoria, Vice President.
Dale Bryan, Marietta, Secretary.
Alva Davis, Avon, Treasurer.
L.C. Groat, Manager of Spoon River Electric Co-operative was appointed Registered Agent.
Clyde E. Eskridge of Spoon River Electric was appointed Assistant to Registered Agent.

Following a review of the various possibilities of acquiring sufficient exchanges to begin a Telephone Company and further investigation to determine how capital could be raised. It was deemed advisable to contact the Rural Electrification Administration whose structure had been changed in 1949 to permit the borrowing of funds (from REA) for the construction of telephone plants in small communities and rural areas.

Shortly thereafter, a resolution was adopted to make application to REA for sufficient loan funds to construct telephone systems at Table Grove and Marietta. The first REA loan granted to the Cooperative was in the amount of $280,000. These funds were used to construct modern telephone facilities in the Table Grove and Marietta exchanges; serving at the time 219 subscribers and 94 subscribers, respectively. Following this, the Cooperative acquired fourteen (14) other small telephone companies in Fulton, Knox, Stark, Henry, and Peoria Counties, with the last being June 9, 1962. Then 45 years later, in August 2007, MCTC acquired Yates City Telephone and incorporated the exchange directly into the existing Cooperative. The table below shows the acquired company, date of acquisition, date cut over to dial operation by Mid Century, and number of subscribers at dial conversion.

Acquisitions 

Community/Exchange

Date Cut Over 

Date Acquired

Subscriber

Table Grove

05/02/1954

11/26/1952

219

Marietta

05/02/1954

12/09/1952

94

Maquon Switchboard

05/22/1956

04/26/1955

274

Delong Burnside*

05/22/1956

04/30/1955

Ellisville Central

05/08/1957

04/13/1956

120

Gilson Mutual

06/25/1957

08/03/1956

145

Smithfield

06/15/1959

12/03/1957

171

Dahinda Switchboard**

10/14/1961

06/13/1958

Victoria Mutual

08/01/1960

12/17/1959

428

Altona Farmers

02/01/1961

10/21/1959

300

West Jersey Mutual***

04/14/1962

10/13/1960

LaFayette Mutual

04/14/1962

07/03/1961

282

Williamsfield Mutual

10/14/1961

03/09/1961

381

Fairview Central

12/09/1961

03/10/1961

333

Bishop Hill Mutual

06/15/1962

06/20/1961

172

Summum Mutual

11/15/1962

06/09/1962

280

Yates City Telephone

08/01/2007

08/01/2007

450

*Delong part of Maquon Exchange
**Dahinda part of Williamsfield Exchange
***West Jersey part of LaFayette Exchange

The Cooperative, which had no funds to begin with, was housed in the offices of Spoon River Electric Cooperative on South Fifth Avenue in Canton, Illinois. In 1956 these facilities were out grown and the temporary headquarters office was moved to 122 North Avenue A. On August 25, 1962, the Cooperative then moved to its West Locust Limits location, in Canton where it resided for 44 years. In 2006, Mid Century built and moved within its service area at 285 Mid Century Lane, Fairview Illinois, which remains the headquarters for the Cooperative telephone system. As of August 1, 2007, Mid Century Telephone Co-operative serves fourteen (14) telephone exchanges: