Electricity Dawns In Branford

The following content is adapted from Ted Braun's book "The Barkers of Branford: Life in America Through A Local Lens". Details at www.BarkersOfBranford.com

Branford awoke to the dawn of the Age of Electricity in 1895. A group of local Branford residents secured a state charter for the Branford Electric Company as as both an electric and water utility. Ground was broken for the power plant on the eastside of town on Route One at the Branford River. A power substation with wire grids and transformers mark the same spot today. Construction was a curiosity at the time and Llewellyn Barker and his Mill Plain Road neighbors often walked down from their nearby homes to survey the progress. In July of 1895 he reported the pouring of “the foundation and boilers” being installed. On August 5th they were “raising the smoke stack about 6 oclock.”

Transmission lines were stretched west from the plant toward the town center and included the Branford Lock Works where Llewellyn worked at the time. On November 11th from his diaries:“They have just got the Electric lights ready for us at the shop. Evening we went down to the Electric plant children and all”. The very next day, his work-life at the factory changed dramatically. “They have got the Electric light running and we have to work until 6 o'clock”. No longer would his workday be cut short during the waning daylight hours of winter. The following Monday he made it clear how he felt about it. “We work until 6 o'clock now. Don’t like it”.

Factories could now operate independent of the rising and setting of the sun. Llewellyn had to negotiate a precarious balance between farm and factory. There was firewood to cut, haul, split and stack and a long list of other tasks. Electricity interfered with life’s rhythms as he had known them. None of the benefits of electricity had arrived into his home yet. The myriad of “labor saving” domestic appliances had yet to be invented or, if invented, afforded.

The wires draped pole-to-pole only linked the factories, large commercial structures and town buildings including the newly constructed Blackstone Memorial Library. In 1896, the library was completed and Llewellyn was there on June 17th for its dedication. “We were going in to the dedication of the Library. We went in the evening at the illumination of the building. Right in the midst of it the lights suddenly went out. We got out the best way we could.”

Llewellyn had to wait until the next century before his home at 60 Mill Plain Road was finally electrified.

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Ted Braun's book "The Barkers of Branford: Life in America Through a Local Lens" is available for $30 at the Blackstone Library in Branford. Details at www.BarkersOfBranford.com