Pearl Street Power Station
Edison’s incandescent light bulb was only a small part of his plan. His ambition was legendary, his connections well guarded; his reputation feared and respected enough for him to convince the financial muscle of Wall Street to invest half a million dollars in making a central generator that would power all of New York City. America’s first Power Station was built on Pearl Street, and by September 4th 1882 Edison demonstrated its practicality by lighting 100 of his patented light bulbs with a single switch—without a single generator in sight or within hearing distance. He turned to a nearby journalist and said: “I have accomplished all that I’ve promised”. However, he faced an uphill battle from here on; he had to overcome the safety concerns of high voltage DC systems (which he did by burying cables underground) and he had to ensure there were enough customers to make his expensive power stations economically viable (which he did by choosing Wall Street as the first customer). But his system was inherently doomed, it would require power stations every few miles and would be incredibly expensive. In all his brilliance, Edison was simply backing the wrong horse, and he was too far in to change his mind.
Source: Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity. Presented by Jim Al-Khalili, BBC, 2011
Public Domain
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Full disclosure, I may occasionally borrow a sentence from Will Durant's Story of Civilization. I absolutely love that collection!