Waterville, Electrified!

Waterville is Electrified

In our last America 250 article we mentioned the many electric generating plants in place to power the electric railroads, but electricity had already found more uses for the general public than transportation. Not the least of these was Thomas Edison’s invention of the lightbulb, turning electric energy into light energy. For the first time in history, we could light our homes and streets without burning some kind of fuel.

By 1917 the citizens of Waterville had let their town government know that they wanted electricity in their town. They wanted to take advantage of electric lighting and the many work saving electric appliances already available. A special election was held April 25, 1917 to allow the Village to issue bonds of finance “building works for the supplying electricity to the Corporation and inhabitants thereof”. The issue was passed by a vote of 115 for and 14 against. Then a series of ordinances were passed at a June 4, 1917, meeting to publish and sell bonds totaling $13,600 and another to authorize the Clerk C.J. Roach and Mayor J.J. Lloyd to advertise for bids for this project. Ordinance No. 7 dated July 27, 1917, authorized the Village to levy a property tax sufficient to pay interest on the bonds and establish a “sinking fund” to pay the principal when due. Bids were taken to “furnish all apparatus and equipment for building a distribution system to receive purchased electrical energy for lighting of streets and resale to the public” to specifications supplied by the Froelich and Emery Engineering Co. A resolution passed September 17th awarded contracts for materials and labor to Chas. L Zahm of Toledo and to General Electric of Toledo for transformers, service meters and lamps all totaling $11,933.68. No paperwork was found indicating when the village residents began to actually receive electricity, but we can assume sometime in 1918.

Power was purchased from 1918 until June 1930 when a municipal generating plant was built and put into service. This generating station was powered by several large diesel engines and was located near the water tower at the western edge (at that time) of the village. When the demand for power increased to capacity more diesel engines and generating units were added. By the 1950s the village residents had to decide whether to build a larger power plant or abandon the municipal plant and again purchase power from Toledo Edison. This controversial issue raged for years with much passion on both sides. The villagers were evenly split on the issue, and no decision could be reached. Finally in 1967 Toledo Edison agreed to buy the Waterville Power Company for 1.3 million dollars. The power plant was shut down and Waterville power switched to a Toledo Edison substation on April 20, 1968. The plant was sold to Toledo Edison in July 1968 and later the building was torn down.

Author’s note: The Village records referenced in this article and much more are held in the Wakeman Archives and may be viewed by the public free of charge.

By John Rose