PROGRESS AND POWER: THE ELECTRIFICATION OF THE URBAN AMERICAN SOUTH, 1880-1920 By MATTHEW R. HALL A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2013 1 © 2013 Matthew R. Hall 2 To Mikilena 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisors, Drs. William A. Link and Sean P. Adams for their unceasing help, incisive critiques, and professionalism. I am indebted to them for guiding my work, the way I think, and how I view history. I must also thank the members of my committee, Drs. Benjamin Wise, Jeffrey Adler, and Stephanie Smith for their valuable time and insightful suggestions. I would also like to thank the innumerable librarians, archivists, and fellow graduate students who helped shape my project into this dissertation. In particular, my project owes a great deal to Joseph Beatty and his wise counsel. Thanks to my mother and father for instilling in me a love of history. I would like to thank my father especially, from whom I learned everything I know about exterior illumination. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife, Mikilena, and our dog, Bingley. Bingley was particularly helpful, silently encouraging me every day as I sat as my desk. Mikilena offered her careful eye and thoughtful advice and inspired my writing. Without her love and support this study would never have been completed. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. 4 LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 11 2 PURSUING PROGRESS: NEW SOUTH CITIES AND THE PROMISE OF ELECTRICITY ........................................................................................................ 22 Old South, New South ............................................................................................ 25 Richmond: The Old South City ......................................................................... 26 Atlanta: The New South City ............................................................................ 33 Progress ................................................................................................................. 41 The Promise of Electricity ....................................................................................... 54 Summary ................................................................................................................ 64 3 DRIVING ELECTRIFICATION: STREET LIGHT IN ATLANTA, 1880-1890 ............ 67 Gas: A Municipal Investment .................................................................................. 71 Enter Electricity ....................................................................................................... 74 Choosing an Illuminant ........................................................................................... 77 Comparative Electrification: Streetcars ................................................................... 97 Summary .............................................................................................................. 103 4 WHO CONTROLS THE POWER? THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP, RICHMOND 1885-1920 ................................................................ 106 Electrification ........................................................................................................ 108 Gas Works ...................................................................................................... 109 An Electric Works? ......................................................................................... 112 The First Attempts .......................................................................................... 116 Gas Works Rebounding ................................................................................. 127 A Municipal Experiment ........................................................................................ 128 Plant in War .................................................................................................... 139 Summary .............................................................................................................. 144 5 WHITE LIGHT: DESIGNING THE GRID IN ATLANTA, 1885-1910 ...................... 153 5 Light for Whites ..................................................................................................... 155 Merchants and Lights ..................................................................................... 157 Residential Street Lights................................................................................. 161 Streetcars ....................................................................................................... 173 Black Crime and Electric Light .............................................................................. 181 Summary .............................................................................................................. 190 6 JITNEYS, RATES, AND REGULATION: THE DEFENSE OF THE STREETCAR DOMINION, RICHMOND 1910-1920 .................................................................... 200 The Trolley's Beginnings in Richmond .................................................................. 203 Success .......................................................................................................... 209 Mass Transportation Monopoly ...................................................................... 212 The Jitney ............................................................................................................. 214 The Fare ............................................................................................................... 237 Summary .............................................................................................................. 243 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 252 LIST OF REFERENCES ............................................................................................. 259 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................... 274 6 LIST OF TABLES Table page 3-1 Lights in Atlanta by type and by year ................................................................... 105 7 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 2-1 Boosterish editorial cartoons like this one from the Atlanta Georgian were common .............................................................................................................. 66 4-1 Richmond in 1881 ................................................................................................ 147 4-2 Gas Consumed in Richmond, 1881-1889 ............................................................ 147 4-3 Richmond Municipal Gas Works Profits, by year, 1880-1899. ............................. 148 4-4 Richmond Municipal Gas Works Profits, 1900-1912. ........................................... 148 4-5 Gas Consumed in Richmond, 1900-1912. ........................................................... 149 4-6 Broad Street at Night as Illuminated by the Passenger and Power Company, June 1907 ......................................................................................................... 149 4-7 Richmond in 1907, showing the private electric plant (blue) and the old pump house (red) ....................................................................................................... 150 4-8 Richmond Municipal Electric Light Costs, 1886-1907. ......................................... 151 4-9 Municipal Electric Light Costs Compared with the Gas Works' Profits, 1886- 1907. ................................................................................................................ 151 4-10 Richmond's Electric Plant in 1911 ...................................................................... 152 4-11 Richmond Electric Light Costs, 1905-1920. ....................................................... 152 5-1 A photograph of the nightly glow of Atlanta's "great white way" at the corner of Broad and Peachtree ........................................................................................ 192 5-2 Great White Way and the electric sign above Jacobs' Pharmacy ........................ 193 5-3 Predominant Black (red), white-collar white (blue), and working-class white (yellow) areas ................................................................................................... 193 5-4 Gas (red), Gasoline (black), and Oil (blue) street lamps erected in Atlanta between 1882-1888 .......................................................................................... 194 5-5 Electric Street Lights (black dots), Erected Between 1882 and 1887 ................... 195 5-6 Arc Street Light at junction of Peachtree and West Peachtree Streets ................ 196 5-7 Electric street lights erected between 1888-1895 ................................................ 197 8 5-8 Electric car lines in the Fall of 1889 .....................................................................