The Edison Illuminating Company was established by

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...

on December 17, 1880, to construct electrical generating stations, initially in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The company was the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

for other local illuminating companies that were established in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

during the 1880s.

History

Pearl Street Station

On September 4, 1882, Edison's first

central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

, the Pearl Street Station, opened at 257 Pearl Street in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The station was the first commercial

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electr ...

in the United States, and was the world's first

cogeneration Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time. Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...

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 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

designated it as a milestone in 2011.

Other stations

Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New Brunswick 1886

In November 1882, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of

Shamokin, Pennsylvania Shamokin - (; Saponi Algonquian languages, Algonquian ''Schahamokink'', meaning "place of eels") (Unami language, Lenape Indian language: Shahëmokink) is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Surrounded by Coal Township ...

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 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 Brockton is a city in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States; the population was 105,643 at the 2020 United States census. Along with Plymouth, Massachusetts, Plymouth, it is one of the two county seats of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, ...

and was capable of supplying about 1600 lamps. The Brockton station is listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. 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 lamp An arc lamp or arc light is a lamp that produces light by an electric arc (also called a voltaic arc). The carbon arc light, which consists of an arc between carbon electrodes in air, invented by Humphry Davy in the first decade of the 1800s, ...

s and 50

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...

s were erected in the downtown business district. Edison also opened plants in

Fall River, Massachusetts Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States census, making it the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, tenth-largest city in the state, and the second- ...

(1883),

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,075. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and comm ...

(1884), Tamaqua, Pennsylvania (1885), and

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

(1886).

Fate

The Edison Illuminating Company was purchased by Consolidated Gas in 1901. In 1936, with electricity sales far outpacing gas sales, the company changed its name to

Consolidated Edison Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison (stylized as conEdison) or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 ...

. 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 General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

; however, they were never related aside from their common founder.

Notable employees

In 1891,

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

became an engineer with 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.

References

Sources

* {{Thomas Edison Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York City Consolidated Edison 1880 establishments in New York (state)