Nov. 03– Nov. 3–It’s easy to take electricity for granted. Light is everywhere. There are all kinds of light sources available today — so much so that there is talk of light pollution that obscures the stars.
That was not the case at the turn of the last century. Electrification of the city was a milestone that Joplin’s boosters took pride in announcing.
Historian Joel Livingston wrote the introduction to the first promotional book on Joplin in 1902, “Joplin, Missouri: The City that Jack Built.” He spent six pages describing Joplin’s history and many attributes. However, not a word was mentioned concerning electrification or municipal lighting. Mining, railroads, wholesale and retail businesses were detailed with just one mention of a planned natural gas connection.
In 10 years’ time, the landscape had changed dramatically. The city did get the planned natural gas pipeline. Buildings such as the new Federal Building at Third and Joplin were equipped for gas and electric lights. The city had a number of gas streetlights supplied by the Joplin Gas Co. Lamplighters made their nightly rounds.
The first light plant was located between Fourth and Fifth streets and Joplin and Wall avenues. It was constructed in 1887. Twelve arc lights were set up on street corners. The first one was put at the corner of Fourth and Main streets. It was well received, and the company acquired a contract to put up lights downtown. Power was supplemented from a small hydroelectric plant at Grand Falls on Shoal Creek that John Sergeant and Eliot Moffet established just before 1890.
Arc lighting was touted with claims that “each electric light is as good as a policeman.” While such claims were overblown, author Ernest Freeberg observed in “The Age of Edison” that “as the stronger light became more likely, (it) had the same effect on criminals as it does on cockroaches, not eliminating them but simply pushing them into darker corners of the city.” The lights were first set up on just one street corner per block. The middle of the blocks were quite dark. Unescorted women did not shop at night.
Businesses often had brightly lit store windows or canopies. The Ideal Theater at Sixth and Main had a row of globe lamps on its canopy, which was typical. It became a status symbol to have lights in windows, on awnings, along building corners and on rooftops. The bright “Newman’s” sign atop the department store shined brightly every night.
In March 1899, the city voted to approve $30,000 in bonds to own and operate its own municipal light plant. By a vote of 813-222, the proposal passed with more than the two-thirds majority required.
The city’s contract with the Southwestern Power Co. was due to expire on May 1. Officials hoped to have a plant in operation before that date. It proved to be an unrealistic hope.
A site was chosen in June on Broadway between Division and Railroad avenues in east Joplin. The lots were purchased from the Southwest Missouri Railroad. The streetcar company’s old power house became the new municipal light plant.
In February 1900, constructing engineer James Price threw the switch to turn on 100 lights throughout the city. The lights came on “without a hitch,” the Globe reported. “Everything points to Joplin being blessed with a lighting system of its own of which the city may well boast.”
Over the next 17 years, the city expanded the light plant as the demand for more street lighting increased. Voters approved another $30,000 in bonds in August 1904 to expand the plant so as to provide commercial customers with power in addition to street lighting.
From the 100 arc lights in 1900, the number increased to 268 in 1910. “White way” arc lights were installed from First to 26th streets on Main, and along Virginia and Pennsylvania avenues parallel to Main. Chitwood and Villa Heights were the next areas to receive 30 new streetlights in 1910.
Meanwhile, the Southwestern Power Co. was consolidated with other power companies under Henry Doherty Co. to become Empire District Electric Co. in 1909. It served mining districts and communities, though Joplin maintained its own light plant. Despite that, during the Christmas shopping seasons of the years before World War I, business owners along Main Street would contract with Empire to set up extra arc lighting to make the downtown district more inviting to evening shoppers.
Empire had made proposals to contract for city street lighting, but those were rejected by city officials. The city’s plant was not aging well. In early 1917, the equipment broke down, and the city was reduced to purchasing power from Empire while repairs were made.
The city commission presented two proposals to voters: one for $225,000 in bonds for a new light plant, and one seeking approval to contract power from Empire for city lighting. Voters in June turned down both proposals.
However, once the war began in 1917, Joplin’s light plant was examined by the Fuel Administration, which regulated fuel and power consumption. It ruled the city’s plant wasted fuel and recommended the city close the plant for the duration of the war. That sounded the death knell for the municipal plant.
The city agreed to shut down the plant, and on Sept. 21, 1918, it contracted to purchase power from Empire. The city’s public utility commission reported it saved $25,000 a year with the new agreement.
Bill Caldwell is the retired librarian at The Joplin Globe. If you have a question you’d like him to research, send an email to [email protected] or leave a message at 417-627-7261.
Post time: Nov-05-2019