On
September 30, 1882, the world's first...
hydroelectric power plant began operation on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. The plant, later named the Appleton Edison Light Company, was initiated by Appleton paper manufacturer H.F. Rogers, who had been inspired by
Thomas Edison's plans for an electricity-producing station in New York. With financial backing from three Appleton men, one a personal friend of Edison's, Rogers began building the Appleton plant at his riverside paper mill during the summer of 1882.
Unlike Edison's New York plant which used steam power to drive its generators, the Appleton plant used the energy of the Fox River. The operation's water wheel, generators, and copper wiring took only a few months to install and test. When the plant opened, just twenty-six days after Edison's, it produced enough electricity to light Rogers' home, the plant itself, and a nearby building.
By the early twentieth century, hydroelectric power plants were producing a significant portion of the country's electric energy. The cheap electricity provided by the plants spurred industrial growth in many regions of the country.
In 1933, the U.S. government established the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which introduced hydroelectric power plants to the South's troubled Tennessee River Valley. The TVA's power plants, built in conjunction with a number of dams, were just one component of the agency's comprehensive plan to promote the economic development of the Tennessee River Valley. The TVA also administered flood control and soil conservation programs, as well as systems to improve navigation along the Tennessee River and its tributaries. Like other New Deal programs initiated by Franklin Roosevelt, the TVA hired hundreds of displaced depression-era workers to build and operate its facilities, providing an additional boost to the region's economy.
The collection Washington as It Was, 1923-1959 contains a series of more than 2,000 photographs from the Washington, D.C. Electric Institute and Potomac Electric Power Company. Besides images of a variety of early electrical appliances, the series includes examples, some of them amusing, of advertising campaigns and demonstrations promoting the use of electricity in the home and in industry. Search the collection using the keyword electric to retrieve these images. Add keywords such as appliance or advertisement to focus your search. Be sure to try a search on Reddy Kilowatt!
Browse the American Memory collection Inventing Entertainment, The Early Motion Pictures and Sound Recordings of the Edison Companies for more evidence of Edison's talents.
Learn more about inventor Thomas Edison. Search on Thomas Edison in the Today in History Archive. Also see the Today in History features for December 21 to find out about Boulder Dam and June 16 to learn more about Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal projects.
View 45 color photographs documenting Tennessee Valley Authority dams and facilities in Alabama and Tennessee. Search on Tennessee Valley Authority in FSA/OWI Photographs, 1939-1945. 
