On September 4th, 1882, Thomas Edison flipped the switch on the first commercial electrical power plant in the United States, illuminating one square mile of lower Manhattan and marking the beginning of the electric age.
The Pearl Street Station, located at 255-257 Pearl Street in New York City, housed Edison's revolutionary coal-fired generators, known as "dynamos." These generators produced 110 volts of direct current (DC) power, which was then distributed to homes and businesses through a network of underground copper wires.
The station initially served 85 customers, powering approximately 400 lamps. The cost of electricity was high at the time, with customers paying roughly $5 per kilowatt hour (adjusted for inflation, this would be over $130 today). Despite the steep price, the demand for electricity grew rapidly, and by 1884, Pearl Street Station was serving over 500 customers with more than 10,000 lamps.
Edison's DC system had limitations, however. It could only transmit electricity for about a mile before suffering significant power losses. This problem was later solved by Nikola Tesla's development of alternating current (AC) systems, which could transmit electricity over much greater distances.
The success of the Pearl Street Station marked a turning point in the way people lived and worked, paving the way for the widespread adoption of electricity and the countless technological innovations that followed. Today, we commemorate Edison's groundbreaking achievement as a milestone in the history of science and technology.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
