NineStar Connect is an American smart utility cooperative. It is headquartered in Greenfield, Indiana, with assets in Central Indiana. The company offers communication, electricity, water and sewer utility services.
History
NineStar Connect actually traces in origins back to the McCordsville Telephone Company which was founded in 1895 by Loren Helms. Helms, a telephone factory worker, strung a wire across a back fence from his mother's house to the home of his sister, Mrs. Charles Peal, and installed the first telephone in the community. Soon three neighbors joined the line Hiram Dunham, James Thomas, and Robert Wilson – and the company was in business. It became a cooperative in 1950 once merged with Maxwell, Mohawk, New Eden and Willow Branch Telephone companies. Central Indiana Power was incorporated in 1936 as Hancock County Rural Electric Membership Cooperative to offer electricity to what used to be rural portions of the county. These two local cooperatives officially merged on January 1, 2011.[1]
The name NineStar Connect is the result of the newly merged cooperative that was previously known as separate entities, Hancock Telecom and Central Indiana Power.