Lower Manhattan Honors "Edison" Power; Watertown Honors Water Power

At the corner of Pearl and Fulton Streets, a commemorative plaque              installed in 1917 at the site of the former Pearl Street Station. Plaque reads, "1882-1917 In a building on this site an electric plant supplying the first Edison Underground Central Station System in this country and forming the origin of New York's present electrical system began operation on Sept. 4, 1882, according to plans conceived and executed by Thomas Alva Edision to . To commemorate an epoch-making event, this tablet is erected by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The New York Edison Company."

From the internet:  In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Station was established by Edison to provide electric lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area. The station ran until destroyed by fire in 1890. The station used reciprocating steam engines to turn direct-current generators. Because of the DC distribution, the service area was small, limited by voltage drop in the feeders. The War of Currents eventually resolved in favor of AC distribution and utilization, although some DC systems persisted to the end of the 20th century. DC systems with a service radius of a mile (kilometer) or so were necessarily smaller, less efficient of fuel consumption, and more labor-intensive to operate than much larger central AC generating stations.

  

Dylan Marie's grandfather and aunt view the Edison plaque in between visits to newly born Dylan Marie.

And in Watertown, Massachusetts, along the Charles River, this plaque commemorates water power:  "This stone wall marks the southern edge of the historic Mill Creek Canal which provided power for Mayhew's Mill in the mid 1600's."

Waterpower: The Charles River, Watertown, Massachusetts, site of Mayhew's Mill

From the internet:   After Thomas Mayhew built America’s first grist mill in 1638 – in what is now known as Watertown Square – the Town grew into a mill village whose river and its falls accounted for the booming industrial growth along the riverbanks still in evidence today. . .

Photos by Marash Girl