- Harvey C. Couch
Harvey Crowley Couch, (
21 August 1877 –30 July 1941 ) was anArkansas entrepreneur who rose from very modest beginnings to control a regional utility andrailroad empire. He is regarded as the father of Arkansas Power and Light Company and other electric utilities now part ofEntergy , and helped to mold theLouisiana and Arkansas Railway and theKansas City Southern Railway into a major transportation system.Early life
Harvey Couch was born in tiny Calhoun in Columbia County in southern Arkansas. During his youth, he assisted his parents and younger siblings with the endless work associated with a small
cotton farm. As his father's health deteriorated, the family moved to nearby Magnolia, the seat of Columbia County. In 1898, Couch successfully passed acorrespondence course test, qualifying him to enter theRailway Mail Service , sorting mail in one of the manyrailway post office cars which criss-crossed the nation. Couch initially worked on arailway post office route on the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad between St. Louis andTexarkana , then a Memphis andTexarkana run over theSt. Louis Southwestern Railway , before getting an assignment south intoLouisiana out of his home town of Magnolia.Business career
While still working on the
railway post office route fromMcNeil, Arkansas , into north Louisiana, Couch was exposed to the development of the long-distance telephone. In partnership with the postmasters of McNeil, andBienville, Louisiana , Couch formed the North Louisiana Telephone Company. From this beginning just after the turn of the century, the company eventually constructed more than 1,500 miles of line, serving 50 exchanges in four states. In 1911, the company was sold toSouthwestern Bell Telephone Company at a price which gave Couch a profit of over $1 million. His business interests in Louisiana brought Couch into political alliance with Huey Pierce Long, Jr., the flamboyantgovernor andUnited States senator .By the time North Louisiana Telephone had been sold, Harvey Couch was already exploring the possibilities of developing a similar interconnected electric utility system. Both Malvern and Arkadelphia, had awarded franchises for citywide electric utilities, and in both cities, the utility companies had failed. Couch proposed a partnership with Arkansas Land & Lumber Company, a large
sawmill operation in Malvern, whereby sawdust and waste material purchased from thesawmill would be used to fuel boilers, producing steam for two 550-kilowatt turbines to generateelectric power . The new system, a predecessor of Arkansas Power and Light Company (AP&L), became operational onDecember 18 ,1914 , providing Malvern and Arkadelphia with 24-hour electric service for the first time. In 1916, AP&L's second generating plant was opened in Russellville, the seat of Pope County in north central Arkansas. The plant was located adjacent to a coal field which provided a steady supply of fuel.Under the leadership of Harvey Couch, AP&L continued purchasing city utility systems and building electric transmission lines throughout Arkansas. As demand for
electric power increased, Couch began formalizing plans forhydroelectric development on theOuachita River . The first of several such dams, Remmel Dam, was completed in December 1924. As the electric utility industry continued to prosper and expand in Arkansas, Harvey Couch began to devote some attention to his earlier interest, railroading. A group of investors, led by Couch, gained control of theLouisiana and Arkansas Railway in early 1928. Couch became president of theKansas City Southern Railway in 1939. FollowingInterstate Commerce Commission approval, theKansas City Southern acquired theLouisiana and Arkansas , consolidating the separate railroad holdings of the Couch syndicate. Pete Couch, younger brother of Harvey Couch, assumed the presidency of both railroads.In addition to his business interests, Harvey Couch continued in a variety of public service roles during the 1930s. The
Great Depression dictated a greatly expanded government effort to encourage business, one such mechanism being theReconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). A board of seven directors was chosen to run the RFC, one of whom was Harvey Couch. Couch served as RFC director until he resigned in August 1934 to return to Arkansas. In 1936, Couch served as chairman of the Arkansas Centennial celebration and hostedU.S. President Franklin Roosevelt , with whom Huey Long had quarreled, during FDR's visit to Arkansas.Final chapter
In February 1940, Couch developed a severe case of the
flu , and insisted on attending theDemocratic National Convention in Chicago, even though he had not recovered. After the convention, he traveled toBaltimore, Maryland , andWashington, D.C. , where he suffered aheart attack . After several months of recuperation, he returned to Couchwood, his vacation estate located between Malvern andHot Springs, Arkansas . The severity of Harvey Couch's condition was concealed from the public, and he continued as director of the statePolio Campaign even as his condition worsened. Havey Couch died at Couchwood from complications ofcardiovascular disease . One of the diesel locomotives and a number of the cars from Couch's belovedKansas City Southern - Louisiana and Arkansasstreamliner , the "Southern Belle", were diverted toPine Bluff, Arkansas to serve as a funeral train, carrying Couch's body from funeral services in Pine Bluff to Magnolia for burial.The Democrat Couch was the father-in-law of
Pratt C. Remmel , the only elected Republican to have served asmayor of Little Rock in the 20th century. Remmel, the mayor from 1951-1955, was descended from an old-line Republican family. Remmel's wife, Catherine Couch Remmel, is honored by the naming of Lake Catherine in Hot Springs.References
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