Electrical wires first appeared on Philly streets in 1845. A few pioneering wires were strung up on poles to facilitate the latest communication innovation: the telegraph. By the Civil War, tall telegraph poles were a common sight. At war’s end, telegraph poles sprouted like the masts of ships from street corners. They had grown to three-stories tall, carrying dozens of wires.
In the 1880s, more electrical wires were strung across Philly’s streets. They powered new Brush electric arc street lights on major streets. These lights gave off an intense, glaring light, and they emitted a loud hissing noise.
Department stores were early adopters of these lights indoors, dazzling shoppers with their night time brilliance. However, these harsh lights were more widely used to extend working hours in steel mills, textile mills, and mines (“The Brush Electric Light,” Scientific American, April 2, 1881).
Like so much in the Gilded Age, innovation looked very different depending on your perspective.
A Gallery of Gilded Age Streets
Resources
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