1880-1904

Electricity lights up city's streets

Power lines stretch over Hay Street in the late 1800s.

A joyous celebration erupted on Dec. 24, 1902, when officials turned on a new municipal electricity plant on Russell Street in Fayetteville.

Bells tolled, firecrackers exploded, and rockets were launched. People sang and blew whistles.

"There is little to be wondered at in the great demonstration," The Fayetteville Observer reported on Jan. 1, 1903, "as Fayetteville has practically been in darkness since the discontinuance of the old electric lights nine years ago."

Before 1900, the community's only power came from a cotton mill on Ann Street, near downtown. Water from Cross Creek generated power to run the mill and provide some commercial lighting.

In preparation for the new power plant on Russell Street, town officials in 1901 ordered that poles and wires dormant for seven years be removed from the streets. The equipment was used by the Fayetteville Gas and Electric Co.

The steam-driven power plant produced electricity to light 50 street lights, each glowing with a light equivalent to 2,200 candles.

After opening the Russell Street plant, town officials immediately began expanding the electric distribution system. At that time, the city had fewer than 5,000 people.

In 1892, the city had awarded a franchise to two men who established the Fayetteville Water Light and Power Co., which was incorporated in New Jersey. The franchise gave the city the option to buy the company's local property after 10 years. The city exercised that option.

The system's ownership was the subject of a legal dispute that drew statewide interest. Finally, in 1905, the property was given to Fayetteville, which paid $24,000 in cash and assumed $55,000 in the company's bond debt.

The acquisition led to the creation, through a state charter on March 4, 1905, of the Public Works Commission to oversee the community's electricity, treated water and sewage systems.

Today, the PWC has more than 61,000 residential electricity customers. The utility will give the city in fiscal 2004 $8.3 million from its electric fund and street lighting service to offset property taxes.

The nonprofit utility's peak electric load of 446.5 megawatts occurred July 30, 2002.