In its earliest years, AEP – then known as American Gas and Electric Company (AG&E) - was an assortment of small, struggling utilities scattered across a number of states, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to Illinois.

Line crew, South Bend, Indiana, 1910

American Gas and Electric was incorporated in the state of New York on December 20, 1906, and acquired its first utility properties on January 2, 1907. These original properties provided electric service, gas, water, steam, transit, or even ice service in communities in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Over the years, many of these properties were sold. In fact, only five of the communities originally served by AG&E in 1907 – Marion and Muncie, Indiana; Canton and Bridgeport, Ohio; and Wheeling, West Virginia – are still part of the AEP System.

AEP’s interconnected power system got its start in 1911, when power plants in Marion and Muncie were connected by a 33,000 volt line across some 30 miles of Indiana farmland so they could support each other and improve reliability.

The Windsor Plant, Wheeling, West Virginia

In 1917, AEP’s first “super” power plant began operation on the Ohio River at Wheeling. Called the Windsor Plant, it was the first major steam plant built at a considerable distance from its principal load center – Canton, the largest city that AG&E served in Ohio at the time, which desperately needed to power its steel mills in support of World War I. Power was delivered to Canton customers over the nation’s first long-distance 138,000-volt transmission line. Windsor Plant was also the first major plant built at the mouth of a coal mine, eliminating the need to haul coal over long distances.

America was on the move in the 1920s, and electricity was quickly becoming the engine that powered the journey. During the years 1922-26, AG&E made a number of major property acquisitions, making this five-year span one of the greatest expansion periods in its history. It pushed into Michigan in 1922 with the acquisition of Indiana and Michigan Electric.

The Philo Plant, Philo, Ohio

In 1923, AG&E embarked on the simultaneous construction of three very large generating stations – the Twin Branch plant in northern Indiana, the Philo Plant in southeastern Ohio, and the Stanton plant in northeastern Pennsylvania. Each new plant represented a major advance in the art of power generation. Philo, for example, was the first plant in the world to reheat steam to do double duty in the process of generating electricity.

In 1924, AG&E purchased control of American Electric Power Company – no relation to the present – a Philadelphia holding company. In 1925, AG&E bought Appalachian Power Company, and, in 1926, merged this unit with other Virginia and southern West Virginia holdings into a new company, which it called Appalachian Electric Power Company.

In 1928, the Federal Trade Commission launched a comprehensive inquiry into the entire electric power industry, culminating with the passage of the Public Utility Holding Company Act (PUHCA) in 1935. Although Ohio Power workers, Cambridge, Ohio, 1931 PUHCA caused the breakup of other holding companies – and several of AG&E’s holdings were also divested – AG&E’s so-called Central System, stretching from Virginia to Michigan, was left intact. Indeed, it was cited as a model of what an integrated system should be.

AG&E entered the Great Depression in relatively good financial health. Two weeks following the stock market crash in 1929, AG&E President George Tidd sent a letter of reassurance to shareholders. The company persevered and maintained its financial integrity through the period.

During the period from 1941-61, after a hiatus during World War II, the AG&E System kept ahead of the increasing demand for electric energy by building new power plants, ever bigger and at lower cost, and the new power lines to link them and deliver their product. During the period, AG&E installed 36 new generating units at 14 locations in five states – with a generating capacity totaling 6 million kilowatts. In one year, AG&E plants occupied the top five spots on the list of America’s most efficient generating stations.

At the same time, AG&E managed to plan, engineer, design, and install 11 new generating units totaling over 2 million kilowatts and a 390-mile, 345,000-volt transmission system for the Ohio Valley Electric Cooperative (OVEC), which had been formed to supply power to the federal government’s uranium enrichment plant at Piketon, Ohio. The units came on line in 1955 and 1956.

Phillip Sporn

Much of the work during this era was led by Philip Sporn, who joined AG&E in 1920 and served as its President from 1947 until 1961. An industry leader with an international reputation, Sporn was, in a sense, the company’s chief planner, designer, engineer, architect, financial officer, public relations man, and sales manager.

The company continued to expand, acquiring Indiana Service Corporation of Fort Wayne in 1948.

Finally, in 1958, American Gas and Electric changed its name, becoming the American Electric Power that is known today.

From 1961 until 1975, AEP was led by Donald C. Cook, a Michigan native who had previously been the chairman of the federal Securities and Exchange Commission. AEP continued to grow during this period, Cook Nuclear Plant, Bridgman, Michigan adding 21 new generating units to bring total system generating capacity to 17.6 million kilowatts. By 1975, annual revenues had climbed to $1.6 billion.

In 1967, AEP announced that it would build a nuclear generating station on the shores of Lake Michigan. The 1,020,000-kw Unit 1 of the Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant went into commercial operation in 1975, while the 1,090,000-kw Unit 2 was completed in 1978.

Construction of AEP Headquarters, Columbus, Ohio

W.S. “Pete” White served as chairman from 1976 until 1991, and he presided over the acquisition of Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company on May 9, 1980. That same year, after calling New York City its headquarters for nearly three-quarters of a century, AEP began moving its corporate offices to Columbus, Ohio, completing the move in 1983 with the completion of a new 31-story office facility at 1 Riverside Plaza.

On January 1, 1991, Richard Disbrow succeeded White as chief executive officer of the company, and inherited the chairman’s role when White retired at the end of 1991.

E.R. Brooks (left) and E. Linn Draper

E. Linn Draper, Jr. became president of AEP in March, 1992, following 13 years with Gulf States Utilities Company in Beaumont, Texas, where he served as chairman, president, and chief executive officer. When Disbrow retired in April 1993, Draper assumed the same roles at AEP.

During 1996, AEP’s sales of electricity to retail customers topped 100 billion kilowatt hours for the first time in the company’s history.

On December 22, 1997, AEP announced a definitive merger with Central and South West Corp. of Dallas, Texas. The merger was completed on June 15, 2000 and created a company with (at that time) combined revenues of $12.5 billion, electricity sales of 200 million megawatts hours, $35 billion in assets, and nearly 9 million customers across the globe.

Michael G. Morris became president and chief executive officer of AEP on January 1, 2004. He was elected chairman on February 24, 2004.

American Electric Power celebrated its 100th anniversary during 2006, highlighting AEP’s long tradition of leadership in the electric utility industry