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1885 - 1915 The New Lights
In the early 1890s, Rochester's population numbered just several thousand. Kerosene and oil street lamps had lighted the city’s main thoroughfares since the mid 1870s. But times were changing and the city was beginning to grow. By the late 1880s the City Council had heard of and seen the electrical power generated by municipally owned plants. Motivated by the need for safely lit streets and reliable electrical service, the City Council in 1892 (after several rancorous meetings) sanctioned the construction of Rochester's first public utility: an electric lighting plant, measuring just 27 by 72 feet. After this plant burned down in October 1915, the dim working conditions and rough floor boards were replaced by the new plant construction on North Broadway.
(PHOTO: Two plant workers paused during maintenance work on equipment below the operating floor of the Third Street Southwest plant.)
(PHOTO: These employees are surrounded by electrical equipment on the main floor. The generator in the foreground was turned by a belt from the enormous flywheel at the right. To start the 16-ton flywheel for the steam engine, plant workers sometimes had to insert a long heavy bar into a hole on the wheel and manually crank the wheel to a position where the steam engine drive arm could move it.)
1894 – Rochester’s First Municipally Owned Power Plant Generates Electricity
On the gently snowing evening of March 14, 1894, Western Electric construction foreman A.C. Sprout switched on the current for lamps on the west circuit; moments later he lighted the lamps on Broadway. Spectators gathered for hours to catch a glimpse of the events inside the plant. Rochester's first municipally owned power plant generated electricity on March 14, 1894, but did not operate full-time until May when the City's contract with a private lighting company expired. By the turn of the century, the Fire Department had vacated that building and the Light Plant occupied the space.
(CITY HALL PHOTO AT RIGHT:)
1887 – City's First Water Service
Not attracting so much attention as the electric
plant opening in the 1890s was the struggle
that the water works faced in that era. The
water company had difficulty showing a profit
to the stockholders while still delivering water,
main extensions, and service to the swiftly
growing City. The water company was subject
to disasters that cost time and money to recoup.
During a 1903 flood when the pump house flooded,
an engineer jumped into the water that was up
to his head and adjusted the pump valves with
his feet. During another flood in 1908, the
whole water works plant was submerged and the
boilers extinguished. A sprinkler truck kept
Saint Mary's
Hospital supplied
from the well owned by Schuster Brewery. In
1910 the water company drilled its first deep
well, about 418 feet deep.
(WATER WORKS PHOTO AT RIGHT:)
(PHOTO: Dr. William Worrall Mayo took a strong leadership role in developing Rochester's water and electric services. An outspoken advocate of municipal ownership of utilities, Mayo served a term as Mayor (1882 - 1883) and held a seat on the City Council.)
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Inside First Electric Plant Below the Operating Floor |
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Original Power Plant Interior |
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Outside View of City Hall, Electric Light Plant & Fire Department |
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Rochester's First Water Works |
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Dr. William Worrall Mayo |
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