Harvey Couch: An Entrepreneur Brings Electricity to Arkansas

Harvey Couch is the inspirational story of the founder of several southern utilities. It is currently in every Arkansas school and public library. Couch has only two years of formal education, but with drive and ambition built an empire that included electric utilities, railroads, and a trucking company. Perhaps my favorite story is when Harvey Couch and his brother Pete "borrowed" a train to distribute utility poles for their first enterprise - a telephone company. In a rather cynical age, the Harvey Couch story is a throwback to an earlier age. In school, Harvey Couch's teacher told him, "Men like you have built empires." Couch believed him and that's why there's a book about him in every Arkansas library.