“A bright light is the enemy of rascality”- Cambridge Chronicle July 7, 1883
Ever get your wires crossed? Blown a fuse? Received a rousing charge? Blame it on electricity!
In 1869, two out of the four “great events” of the century, ranked by the Cambridge Chronicle in their issue of May 29th, were Morse’s invention of the telegraph in the United States, and the laying of the Atlantic Cable. The other two events were the death of slavery in the U.S. and the completion of the Pacific Railway. Alexander Graham Bell made his first telephone call 1876, and then…
Wow! The Electric Telegraph
Although existing in various experimental forms in Europe in the early 19th century, in the United States it was artist and inventor Samuel F. B. Morse (1791-1821, born in Charlestown, Mass) who made the electric telegraph a reality here. Invented around 1837, it was not until 1843 that Morse received funding from Congress for the first telegraphic line. The cable was strung between Baltimore and Washington, D. C. The first message? “What god hath wrought.”
The transatlantic telegraph was laid between 1854 and 1858. Written a year before its completion, this awestruck note appeared in the Cambridge Chronicle (September 19, 1857) Excerpt:
By 1869, Cambridge had installed 15 fire alarm boxes using the electric telegraph. The boxes were hooked up to only one bell—that of the Methodist Church in Ward Two at the corner of Third and Cambridge streets. In the Cambridge Annual Report of 1870, it was recommended that henceforth they should be connected to one bell in each ward.
Next Came the Lightbulb Moment
As they did with the telegraph, inventors worldwide were attempting to invent an electric light bulb. In 1835, an electric “arc” bulb was demonstrated in Britain. In the U. S., William Sawyer (1850-1883) and Albon Man (1826-1905) were working together in an attempt to invent the first electric light bulbs here. However, the bulbs continued to burn out too quickly and were not mass produced. It was Thomas Edison (1847-1931) who improved the filament and commercialized the incandescent light bulb, for which he received two patents: in 1879 and 1880.
Cambridge was impatient to join the electrical ranks. On July 9, 1881, The Cambridge Chronicle reported: “There is a movement on foot to introduce electric lights in this city,” implying that things could have been moving more swiftly as they had in other towns. By 1880, Boston was using electric lights. In 1883, William J. Marvin, Commissioner of the West Boston and Cambridge bridges, did succeed in having both bridges illuminated by electric lights. On July 7, 1883, the Chronicle proclaimed “A bright light is the enemy of rascality. Lighting our streets by electricity would be equal in value to doubling our police force.”
By 1884, a company “controlled by the American Electric and Illuminating Co.” had been formed to provide electricity to Cambridge, Somerville, Arlington and Watertown. On March 1st of that year, The Cambridge Chronicle noted that:
Still, Cambridge only inched along. Apparently, the Mayor agreed: in 1885, Mayor William E. Russell stated in his annual address:
“Cambridge is certainly behind the times in having no such lighting on her streets.
The expense is much more than lighting by gas; but the improvement is so great that I believe it commends itself to the citizens, and justifies the additional cost. I recommend that, whenever a proper plant is established, the city place electric lights in her squares and on some of her main thoroughfares.”
The following year he was able to proclaim “I am very happy to say that arrangements have been made for the use of electric lighting in our main streets and squares.” This included Main and Cambridge Streets, parts of North Avenue from Harvard Square to the Lexington and Arlington Railroad, and Brattle and other squares. This installation would require approximately 70 lights at “55 cents per lamp per night burning all night, or a total cost (estimating for 339 nights per year) of $13,051,50.” And the other 26 nights…?
Then the Electric Trolley
By 1887, electric trolleys were in use in Kansas City, Cleveland Ohio, Omaha, Nebraska, and Mansfield, Ohio. But not yet in Cambridge.
Referred to as “electrics,” electric trolleys presented a big controversy. Many, many column inches of newspapers were devoted to arguments for or against the trolleys. Advocates hailed efficiencies in transportation; the opposition was of the NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) variety, complaining about the speed, noise, and the esthetics of overhead wires:
The following year, residents on Brattle Street were stillfighting the case, declaring that “the electric trolley system is a new and improper use of streets.” (Cambridge Tribune September 29, 1894). As an aside, perhaps these citizens forgot to take into account the improved the life of squirrels, who could now scamper from one place to another across the wires instead of the roads, not to mention a newfound site for birds to light and socialize!
Electrical interference with the telephones (in use since 1877) was also a problem, as James W. Lovering, Superintendent of Mount Auburn, complained about in this letter to a client in Boston:
“Dear Sir: We were unable to understand your message by telephone this forenoon.
Since the electric cars began running the interference has been so great that we have been unable to use the telephone with any degree of accuracy, and until the telephone company, to whom we have already made complaint remedy the matter it is absolutely unsafe to attempt to send any message by telephone in regard to anything which is of importance.” (March 12, 1889)
But the West End Railway and electric companies forged ahead. Electric companies allowed the telephone and electric trolley lines to be attached to their poles. These unsightly metal poles were being replaced by “fine sticks of timber” (Annual Report 1891). On May 11, 1893, the Chronicle reported that “it is expected that by June 1 the electric railway system will be complete between Boston and Arlington.”
Yikes! 2,000 Miles of Wires
By 1890, the city was crisscrossed with a combined 2,000 miles of wires—telegraph wires, trolley wires, telephone wires, and private electric wires. It was a dangerous situation: crossed wires started fires, webs of wires prevented firemen from reaching buildings, and trolley wires interfered with telephone reception. As a consequence, in July of 1890, the City established a new position: Inspector of Wires. The job was to sort out all the technical, legal, and esthetic issues, and to develop rules and regulations for wiring of all sorts. The position was soon filled by the aptly-named Charles H. Morse. Writing on December 29, 1890, Morse reported:
Soon, the Inspector of Wires’ job description was expanded to include the role of “superintendent of the fire-alarm telegraph, the police signal system and all other electric wires and wire systems.”
Stay tuned for the second and final installment where we explore electric appliances, medical electricity and “The Electrical World”!
Today’s post was written by CHC volunteer Kathleen Fox.
SOURCES
Building Old Cambridge. Susan E. Maycock and Charles M. Sullivan, 2016 Cambridge Historical Commission; the MIT Press
City of Cambridge Annual Reports
Cambridge Public Library Digitized Newspapers
https://www.britannica.com/technology/clock/Electric-clocks
https://archive.curbed.com/ad/17101030/history-of-the-doorbell-nest-hello
https://www.energy.gov/articles/history-light-bulb
https://www.britannica.com/summary/electricity
https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/ (for the history of the Cambridge Electric Light Co.)
https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/02/24/downton-abbey-and-electricity/
https://archive.curbed.com/ad/17101030/history-of-the-doorbell-nest-hello