The Edison Illuminating Company was established by Thomas Edison on December 17, 1880, to construct electrical generating stations , initially in New York City . The company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies that were established in the United States during the 1880s.
7-712: On September 4, 1882, Edison's first central station , the Pearl Street Station, opened at 257 Pearl Street in Manhattan . The station was the first commercial power plant in the United States, and was the world's first cogeneration plant. The plant burned down on January 2 1890. Only 1 dynamo (or generator) survived; it is currently displayed at the Henry Ford Museum . The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers designated it as
14-549: A milestone in 2011. In November 1882, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Shamokin, Pennsylvania was established. In 1883, it became only the second three-wire electrical station in the world. The first was Edison's plant in Sunbury, Pennsylvania , which opened on July 4, 1883. The opening ceremony was attended by Edison himself. Even today, Edison's presence is remembered throughout
21-587: The Edison Illuminating Company, and was promoted to chief engineer in 1893. He left the company on August 15, 1899 to focus on automobile manufacturing. James Hood Wright was a board member of the company. Central station (electricity) A central station was the name given to the first generation of power stations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Prior to the establishment of electricity grids , central stations were as yet unconnected with one another, each being
28-554: The sole source of electrical supply to nearby consumers. Central Stations played a key role in the development of electric vehicles : the Electric Vehicle Association of America (EVAA) had representatives from 10 central stations when it was founded in 1910. The New England section of the EVAA, founded in 1909 was called the “Electric Vehicle and Central Station Association”. The monthly official journal of
35-743: The town, with the Edison Hotel and a monument just outside Sunbury. On October 1, 1883, the Brockton Edison Electric Illuminating Company Power Station , another three-wire plant, opened in Brockton, Massachusetts and was capable of supplying about 1600 lamps. The Brockton station is listed in the National Register of Historic Places . On November 17, 1883, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania
42-480: Was founded. This was the first isolated electrical plant in the world, meaning that the entirety of Mount Carmel was powered by electricity. 38 arc lamps and 50 incandescent light bulbs were erected in the downtown business district. Edison also opened plants in Fall River, Massachusetts (1883), Cumberland, Maryland (1884), Tamaqua, Pennsylvania (1885), and Boston (1886). The Edison Illuminating Company
49-469: Was purchased by Consolidated Gas in 1901. In 1936, with electricity sales far outpacing gas sales, the company changed its name to Consolidated Edison . Today, Con Ed is a multi-billion dollar company that provides power to around 3.3 million people. Occasionally, it is misreported that the Edison Illuminating Company later became General Electric ; however, they were never related aside from their common founder. In 1891, Henry Ford became an engineer with
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