On this day in 1882, humanity stepped out of the darkness and into the light.
New York City was the battleground for what would later be known as the “War of the Currents,” a rivalry between Thomas Edison’s large-scale and low-voltage direct current (DC) and Nikola Tesla’s high-voltage alternating current (AC).
Edison’s DC was the initial standard in the United States, but the problem was that DC operated in one direction, similar to a battery. Tesla, a young engineer, believed that transformers could reverse the direction of currents, therefore easily converting different voltages. One would think that Edison, upon seeing this discovery, would attempt to collaborate with Tesla for the sake of scientific integrity, but instead, he feared losing royalties on his own patents.
He began a misinformation campaign against AC, even going as far as to publicly electrocute animals in an attempt to discredit Tesla’s patent. However, seeing as his more brutal attempts were not swaying public opinion, he opted for arguably the most entrancing method: spectacle.
On September 4th, Edison’s power station on Pearl Street ignited, illuminating Manhattan with 106 electrical lamps. Edison’s goal was both to draw the public to his side of the Current War, but also to be the first to combine commercial and residential currents— thereby putting himself at the front of public appeal and potential financial backers.
While electricity was a novelty before this time, primarily used for one-off events and the elite, the crowd gathered in front of Drexel’s Bank Office was the first to behold the true power and splendor of the electric light. For a moment, the business aspect of the electrical war was forgotten, burned away by the light of human endeavor. Electricity no longer was a “novelty” reserved for geniuses and children, but now was elevated to the priceless product of product that it truly is.
What occurred on Pearl Street that afternoon was something that would only be fully understood later; in the moment, it was little more than, as Edison had hoped, a spectacle. The War of the Currents wound down to a close for financial reasons, as always is the case.
The Pearl Street illumination was, in essence, a watershed moment for the world. Few moments in human history are so clearly a unanimous pivot. From that instant when the flip was switched in Pearl Street station, the electric age began— now, on the other side of history, we face a similar electric dawn. Currents replaced candles, wires replaced oil, and possibly in our own future, filament will replace our souls.
