Dining Room - Edison and Electricity

Dining Room - Edison and Electricity

Most of the light fixtures and switches in Hearthstone were made by Bergmann and Company.  Bergmann was an associate of Edison.  The two decided it would of course be impossible to sell electric light bulbs without selling fixtures and switches so Bergmann began to explore manufacturing possibilities.

The switches in the house were custom made and are exceedingly rare.  There are only thirteen in existence.  Hearthstone has eleven of them.  They were fabricated as prototypes to commercial switches that Bergmann began manufacturing.  The commerical versions were used widely.  Designed to work like gas valves, it is from these switches that we get the phrase “turn on the lights.” 

Bergmann opened the first lighting showroom in New York City in 1883.

Because of Henry Rogers and Hearthstone, electric lighting quickly became very popular for the well-to-do in Appleton.  Within a month, Rogers installed another Model K dynamo, this time in its own specially-built building, at the other end of downtown to serve his investors and other mills.  This was necessary because of an inherent limitation in direct current systems - electricity could only be transmitted about a mile from the point of generation.  This new plant, called the Vulcan Street Plant, opened in November of 1882.  A replica of the plant, constructed in 1932, still stands.  Because of its large installed base, Appleton was one of the last cities in America to convert from direct current to alternating current in 1901.

The company that Rogers and his investors formed is a direct ancestor to the Wisconsin-Michigan Power Company and WE Energies, the companies that supply electricity across the state today.