Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
Electricity is sold for the first time anywhere (Appleton, 1882)
Badger city home of first electric plant in America
Appleton, Wis., is far from the site of the laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, where Thomas Edison perfected the incandescent light bulb and other uses for electrical power. Yet it was in the Fox River city that the first plant to commercially generate electricity was built and opened. On Aug. 20, 1882, electricity began flowing to paper mills and a handful of homes within a one-mile radius of the plant; two weeks later Wall St. and neighboring sections of New York City were lit by the world's second electrical generating plant. This short article describes the introduction of electrical power in Appleton during the 1880s.
| Related Topics: |
Industrialization and Urbanization The Introduction of Electrical Power |
| Creator: | Holmes, Fred L. |
| Pub Data: | Milwaukee Sentinel, Nov. 20, 1921 |
| Citation: | Holmes, Fred L. "Badger city home of first electric plant in America." Milwaukee Sentinel, Nov. 20, 1921. Online facsimile at: http://wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=974; Visited on: 4/19/2024 |
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