It is difficult to imagine our world without phone service, but that was once a reality in rural South Texas. Fortunately, a group of dedicated and hard-working individuals from our communities came together for the common goal of providing telephone service, and they succeeded. Their shared success in establishing Valley Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (VTCI) was the beginning of many more great accomplishments for the company and our communities.

The Cooperative was established in April 22, 1952 with the purpose of providing telephone service to rural subscribers deemed unfeasible by the larger companies. The idea began in the 1950’s when rural homes received electrical service by cooperatives funded by Rural Electrification programs. As the number of homes with this commodity increased, rural residents across the country began to express interest in receiving telephone service. To increase economic opportunities and improve the quality of life in rural areas, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), currently known as Rural Utilities Service, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, created a telephone branch to provide low interest loans to telephone cooperatives so they could provide service.

During that time, a group of residents from various rural communities across the Rio Grande Valley reached out to telephone companies to request service, but the companies declined because it was too expensive and unprofitable to serve remote areas in South Texas. The need for phone service prompted the community to come together to organize a telephone cooperative. Meetings were held by local citizens in Willacy, Hidalgo, Cameron, Kennedy, and Starr Counties and surveys were conducted to determine the number of farm families interested in organizing a telephone cooperative.

On September 28, 1950 in Monte Alto, Texas, a local task force called a meeting to formally organize a telephone cooperative. At this meeting a cooperative name was selected, directors were elected, an application for a charter was completed and bylaws were adopted.

The organization of Valley Telephone Cooperative was approved, and seven organizing directors were elected. Those original directors were: Verner E. Gustafson, J. B. Pinson, and Godfrey J. Lassig, all of Lyford; L.R. Ayers of San Perlita; B. C. Hester of Hargill; and W. T. Holland and Reid Rikard, both of Raymondville. The first meeting of incorporators and directors of Valley Telephone was held on May 13, 1952 at the Lyford Gin Association offices in Lyford. These community leaders went out to personally contact and sign up applicants. They gathered the necessary funds and applied for the first REA loan that enabled the Cooperative to begin providing service in 1957.