Valley Girl Views: When Edison Came To Our Valley - Shamokin, Sunbury, Turbotville & Mount Carmel

Thomas Edison came to Shamokin in the fall of 1882 to begin construction of his Electric Illuminating Company. In the midst of that construction, he left Shamokin and went to Sunbury. There he had this [photo above] small central station built. Edison ran his new three wire electric technology from Vine street to Market Street. On July 3rd, the line was tested, and it failed. But on July 4th 1883, the very first electric 3 wire light was turned on at the City Hotel in Sunbury. [The City Hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1914, rebuilt, and in 1922 when Edison came back for Sunbury's Sesquicentennial, the City Hotel was renamed The Hotel Edison.]

The Lewisburg Journal, January 1900

Edison then returned to Shamokin, where the kitchen in the mansion of Katherine McConnel, one of the investors in Edison's company, was illuminated - the first home to have electricity in the Susquehanna Valley. For context, in 1925, more than 40 years later, still only less than half the homes in America had electricity.

An 1895 Photo Of Thomas Edison

Edison Comes To Shamokin Pa

According to the history of Shamokin Pa, In the fall of 1882, with the anthracite coal industry thriving in Pennsylvania, a group of investors in Shamokin contacted Thomas Edison to express their confidence in his new carbon filament lamp, and offered to finance construction of a power station in their hometown.

The Harrisburg Telegraph Nov 30 1882

Edison and his secretary arrived in Shamokin the fall of 1882, and with the investors, organized the "Edison Electrical Illuminated Company Of Shamokin". Edison then took up residence in Shamokin to supervise the construction of a brick power plant located "on a swampy piece of ground near the spur of the Pennsylvania railroad."

This contract between Edison & Shamokin can be found here.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc05971

Summary of Content:
Also signed by members of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co., William H. Dougherty, President; John Mullen, Treasurer; and William Beury, Secretary. Signed as a witness by A. Robertson. Agreement to electrify the town of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Edison agrees to furnish the town with a central station plant and a system of pole lines for $19,209.

From Shamokin To Sunbury PA

Soon after his arrival in Shamokin, Edison also licensed an electric company with investors in nearby Sunbury. The Sunbury Company, using the City Hotel (the present day Hotel Edison) as their base of operations, built a coal-fired power plant on the vacant lot at the corner of Vine and Fourth Streets, completing it in just three weeks time. On the evening of July 4 1883, a three wire line that was strung from the power plant to a 100 candle power light over the City Hotel entrance, was switched on by Edison. Local residents cheered and marches were played by a local brass band.

Located on the corner of Vine & 4th Streets, Edison's Sunbury Station was built in just three weeks time. Power ran from here to the City Hotel, where the first three wire electric light was first switched on on July 4 1883

"The Edison Electric Illuminating Company at Sunbury was incorporated on April 30, 1883. A lot 30 x 75 feet with a small house was secured at a cost of $300, and a small building about twenty-five square feet was erected. The labor and material used and electrical wiring installed cost $90, which at the time was considered "extravagant expenditure." After the three wires were strung between poles along Spring Run down as far as Woodlawn Avenue and then west to Fourth Street, they were then strung to the hotel. A first test was made on July 3, 1883, but this failed due to the improperly lubricated babbit bearings in the dynamo. However, after repairs were made the following night, Edison flipped the switch to a 100-candle power light over the hotel entrance. The current was turned on and the tests were successful. On July 4, 1883, the City Hotel was illuminated, making it the first building in the city, and the world, to be lighted using incandescent carbon-filament light bulbs, very much like those used today. Edison supervised the operations at the Sunbury plant periodically for one year. His longest stay in town after the start of the July 4th operations was about three weeks." https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/edison-hotel-bright-and-colorful-history

Sunbury Pa

Four of Edison's original electrical poles can be seen on the right, in this photo.

Frank Neff, in this 1958 newspaper article, recalls that the lighting almost failed again, due to crossed wires, on July 4th - but the problem was quickly resolved.

Back To Shamokin

Saint Edwards Catholic Church, Shamokin Pa

The First Church to Have Electricity

(The original building was lost in a 1971 fire)

In September of 1883, Edison was back in Shamokin. One of his investors was Katherine McConnell, and she had consented to have the kitchen of her mansion on East Independence Street in Shamokin wired. Although an enthusiastic supporter of Edison's work, she still feared fire and insisted the wiring only be in the kitchen, and that it run on the surface of the wall. On September 22, Edison lead a crowd through Shamokin to see the light first turned on in Kitty McConnells kitchen, then on to Abe Strouse's store on the corner of Rock and Sunbury Streets to turn the light on there, before walking on to Shamokin Street, to turn on the lights in the first church in the world to have electricity, Saint Edwards Catholic Church.

"Shamokin was the site of the second three-wire electric light station in the world in 1883 (Sunbury, Pennsylvania, was the first). Edison's plant, for those of you visiting Shamokin, is now the site of Jones Hardware on Independence Street. St. Edward's Church (built in 1873) became the first church in the America to be lit by electricity." http://www.shamokincity.org/history.htm

Expanding to Other Coal Towns

Notices like this appeared in papers all over PA in 1883

From there, working with P.B. Shaw of Williamsport, Edison quickly licensed electric companies with other Pennsylvania towns near Anthracite fields. These included Mount Carmel, Ashland, Catasauqua (a suburb of Allentown), Harrisburg, Tamaqua, Hazelton, Lancaster, Pottsville, Easton, Williamsport and Bellfonte. We know that he visited Turbotville in the fall of 1883 with his display, but according to historian Rick Wolf, Edison "arrived during harvest season, when everyone in the area was too busy to come see his display."

Which Was The First Home With Electricity?

An article in the Daily Item in 1938 states "some historians claim the first private residence in the world to be wired for electrical lighting was that of the late Doctor R. W. Montelius in the borough of Mount Carmel." The history of Shamokin makes a similar claim, on the house of Kitty McConnell. However, both claims may be accurate, as McConnels home only had a light added in one room, the kitchen, and the Montelius home was lit throughout.

The same article tells us that the first home wired in Sunbury was the home of Mrs. William L. Dewart. The home had electric lights suspended in each room from the ceilings, with switches only at the lights. As Mrs. Dewart was not tall enough to reach the light switches without standing on a chair, Sidney Bateman, and employee of the Edison plant, devised a rude wall switch to enable her to turn the lights on and off easily. Later, this idea of wall switches was improved on by Edison.

Edison Visits Turbotville PA

Frank E. Billhyme, a new resident of Turbotville, wrote the following account of visit to Turbotville:

"On an October evening in 1883, Thomas A. Edison and his assistants gave a demonstration of the electric light. The equipment consisted of a steam engine, a generator, and some long stakes driven into the ground to support the wires carrying the current to the light. The demonstration had not been generally advertised, so that only a few people were present. The next morning the inventor and his equipment left for a what we later learned was a town called Sunbury."
3+

According to an article in the Turbotville Centennial booklet, Edison was attempting to create an interest in the new technology he had installed in Sunbury earlier that year, and he performed similar demonstrations in Milton, Lewisburg, and Northumberland Pa.

Electricity did not come to Turbotville until 1914.

"Very few industrialists saw merit in electricity. The big money was in railroads, factories, mining, etc. So Edison set out to promote his idea of small electric generators for towns. He was world-famous when he arrived in Turbotville but made one mistake-he arrived during harvest season and everybody was too busy to come see his display. "

- Local historian Rick Wolf, the owner of Watsontown Glass. Wolf makes a local history themed Christmas ornament each year, one of which commemorated Edison's visit to our area.

The Central Susquehanna Valley Pioneered the Use Of This Type Of Electricity, And This Type Of Billing For Electricity

Sunbury and Shamokin were not the first towns to have electrical lighting, but they were the first to have this type of lighting - a three wire commercial direct current incandescent lighting system. They were the first to string wires above their streets, and they were the first to generate electric using coal.

Sunbury's electrical system was also the first to use electro-chemical metering. Until then, electricity providers charged a flat rate fee. With the new system, customers were charged based on the exact amount of electricity they used.

The Sunbury Weekly News

July 6 1883

In the fall of 1883, Mount Carmel became the "First Isolated electrical plant in the world".

On November 17, 1883, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania 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..
http://www.bfchistory.org/mtcarmel.htm

The War Of The Currents
Edison's electric system had it's limits. Power stations needed to be situated in the population centers, and electricity could only run a mile from the station. The AC electric, or Arc Lighting, that was being used in many larger cities was sometimes dangerous, mostly due to slipshod installations. For several years there was a "War Of The Currents", with Edison's electric

Edisons electric was direct current, DC, as opposed to Alternating Current (AC) which was also being used at this time. In 1886, George Westinghouse's company transformed AC systems, using transformers, so that it too could be be used for indoor lighting. A "War Of The Currents" ensued. Pole mounted high voltage AC lines caused several fatalities, and a Harold Brown, a New York engineer, staged horrific demonstrations of the risk of AC systems, killing live animals in his demonstrations. Brown and Edison's company colluded with Thomas-Houstan electric company to assure the first electric chair was powered by a Westinghouse AC generator, adding to the poor perception of the safety of AC Current.

But by the early 1890's the War Of The Currents was winding down. Safety problems with AC lines were fixed, and electric companies began to merge. Edison's company merged with Thomas-Houstan, forming General Electric in 1892. General Electric and Westinghouse together won the contract to build the Niagra Falls Hyroelectric Project.

DC commercial power distribution declined rapidly in the 20th century, with Alternating Current (AC) winning the battle. The last DC system however, was not shut down until 2007, in New York City.

News Coverage Of Edison's Sunbury Light
The Sunbury weekly news ran a 3 sentence statement about the lighting, noting that Thomas Edison was in attendance. The Lewisburg Chronicle included it as a footnote a the bottom of an article about the Sunbury Regatta. Only the Sun Gazette appears to have written at length about Edison's visit.