August 1, 2010

The Edison of 1879

Dr. Robert Peltier, PE

Mean Streets

Generating electricity from six dynamos operating in parallel was a technological breakthrough of the first order, but so was the complex network of wires hanging from poles. The square mile serviced by Pearl Street soon became a cobweb of crossbeams and sagging current-carrying wires as new customers were added. An eye-witness account said, “there were forests of poles downtown... and firemen had the greatest difficult in raising their ladders.” There are many stories of children climbing the poles only to have an encounter with uninsulated wires that didn’t end well. Edison soon convinced the city leaders, at first leery about digging up city streets in the heart of Manhattan’s business district, that burying 100,000 feet of wire was the proper decision. Edison supposedly protested saying, “Why? You don’t lift water pipes and gas pipes on stilts!”

The public danger of exposed wires remained a concern for many years. In fact, Brooklyn residents were so used to dodging shocks from the electric trolley tracks when playing street baseball that they named their new professional baseball team the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1898.

The End of the Beginning

A fire that broke out on January 2, 1890, destroyed the plant. Only Jumbo No. 9 escaped ruin. The plant was rebuilt and continued to operate until larger and more efficient plants were built nearby. Pearl Street was decommissioned in 1895 and the building was later demolished. A commemorative plaque was placed on the site of the original building in 1917 that can still viewed today.

Edison’s close friend Henry Ford moved the remains of Edison’s original Menlo Park, N.J., laboratory and the surviving dynamo to The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich., in 1930. The next time you are in Dearborn, pay your respects to the Wizard of Menlo Park by visiting his laboratory and Jumbo No. 9. You won’t be disappointed.