Steam heat was introduced at roughly the same time as electricity. Electricity cables ultimately stretched above and across city streets-until the massive snows of the blizzard of 1888 led to the placement of telephone, telegraph, and electricity cables underground, accessed primarily by an extensive network of manholes. Thomas Edison’s first experiments with the production of electric power took place in the early 1880s, and involved wire laid in shallow trenches to connect street lamps and customers within a square mile of his Pearl Street base. By that time, the system of pipes made of iron or steel that ran under the streets, punctuated by emergency valves to control flow, was making its debut.Įlectricity would be next. Dating back to the 1820s, gas companies pursued clients aggressively, until economies of scale drove them together as the Consolidated Gas Company of New York in 1884. Gas was the first source of power to be distributed centrally. And with few exceptions, they too dutifully followed the path laid out by the Commissioner’s Plan of 1811. New York’s utilities, like its transport system, have at times lived above ground and at times below. of New York,” 1898 Image courtesy of Consolidated Edison Image 2 “Map of part of New York City showing underground mains of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co.
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