Capital credits

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative’s Board of Directors unanimously voted during its April meeting to return $6.23 million in capital credits to member-owners of the cooperative, an increase of more than $500,000 over last year. Beginning in May, Bluebonnet’s members will receive a credit on their electric bill for their share of $6.23 million in capital credits.

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Bluebonnet’s members to receive $6.23 million in capital credits

Joe M. Lockhart and Joe M.T. Lockhart

At Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, many have followed in the bootsteps of their family members. Today, the next generation of lineworkers keeps the lights on, builds new power lines, maintains the electric system and watches out for each other. It’s not just a job — it’s a calling.

Story by Alyssa Meinke
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Lineworker legacies

Viewing solar eclipse

On Monday, April 8, residents of the Bluebonnet service area will be treated to a rare celestial event: an eclipse that will darken the midday sun across the region.

By Sharon Jayson

Students across the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative area are readying special telescopes and protective eyewear. Astronomy experts and photographers are brimming with excitement. Public safety departments are preparing for the likelihood that drivers will abruptly stop to stare into the sky.

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A rare solar spectacle

Then and Now Linemen

Bluebonnet is celebrating 85 years of service. Join us as we honor our past and plan for the future.

Since 1939, Bluebonnet has provided safe, reliable and affordable electric service to its fast-growing membership. Throughout the year, join us in celebrating this milestone as we honor our past and plan for the future. 

For 85 years, Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative has provided power to members and communities in Central Texas. Bluebonnet originally served 1,468 members through 646 miles of power line.

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Then & Now

New journeymen

Two graduates began their co-op careers as interns; four additional staff members receive advanced technical training certifications

By Sidni Carruthers
Graduates
Caleb Clay and Nick Baker, two graduates who began their careers at Bluebonnet as lineworker interns.

Fifteen

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15 apprentice lineworkers advance to journeyman ranks

Woodson lumber

History is alive and essential to Bluebonnet-area towns. That’s why examples still stand, from busy Main Streets to quiet back roads.

Stories by Addie Broyles, 
Sarah Beckham and Sara Abrego

Long before cars or electricity, resilient men and women built lives in Central Texas.

Immigrants 
and settlers were determined to make this rugged land their home. Many towns were settled more than 200 years ago — some through forceful means — 
in the vast 3,800-square-mile area currently powered by Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative.

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Our communities, past and present

Spend a day in Chappell Hill

Soak up the town’s history, shopping and dining

By Camille Wheeler

From its lone stoplight where U.S. 290 meets FM 1155, Chappell Hill opens like a history book. The two-lane road serves as both Main Street and a stretch of the Texas Independence Trail reaching into the Washington County countryside. On this general path, Stephen F. Austin established his first colony in 1821. A small community with an estimated population of 1,000, Chappell Hill has numerous homes and businesses with national and state historic designations.

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Spend a day in Chappell Hill

Lexington rodeo

Today’s bullfighters skip the face paint and silly clothes for the serious business of protecting riders in the rodeo ring

Story by Pam LeBlanc  --  Photos by Laura Skelding

If a snot-slinging, 1,500-pound hunk of muscle and rage hurtled across an arena in your direction, would you run toward it or beat a hasty escape?

Your answer could determine whether you’d make a good bullfighter, the term now used in the U.S. and Canada to describe the rodeo athletes who distract bulls and protect riders during bull-riding competitions.

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No clowning around

New addition will house two firetrucks, office space and equipment for the Southeast Caldwell County Volunteer Fire Department

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative and LCRA representatives present a $50,000 grant to the Southeast Caldwell County Volunteer Fire Department to construct additional building space. The grant is part of LCRA’s Community Development Partnership Program. Pictured, from left to right, are: Rick Arnic, LCRA regional affairs representative; Patty Mundine, VFD president, secretary and firefighter; Margaret D.

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Bluebonnet, LCRA award $50,000 grant to Caldwell County First Responders

Reeves-Womack House

Visiting 14 historic homes across the Bluebonnet region

Stories by Clayton Stromberger 
and Addie Broyles; photos by Sarah Beal 

Sprinkled around the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative service area are hardy survivors of bygone eras — historic houses that have somehow dodged the vagaries of decay, fire, lightning strikes, changing tastes in home design and the human impulse to scrape away the past to make room for something new and novel.

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Where history lives