Main entry:

Platt, Harold L.

Title & Author:

The electric city : energy and the growth of the Chicago area, 1880-1930 / Harold L. Platt.

Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1991.

Description:

xviii, 381 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Restrictions:

King's username and password for off-campus access.

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-371) and index.
Part I: The energy revolution in the city, 1880-1898. Introduction: The search for better lighting, 1848-1880. The city that coal built ; The gaslight era ; The origins of the electrical revolution -- The battle of the lighting systems, 1880-1893. The fight for the central business district ; The introduction of the arc lamp ; The coming of the Edison system ; The crisis of urban politics, 1880-1893. The corruption of government-business relations ; The consolidation of corporate power -- The rise of Samuel Insull, 1893-1898. The culture of technology ; The perils of progress ; The economics of "natural" monopoly ; The gospel of consumption -- Part II: Metropolitan webs of power, 1898-1914. The "massing of production," 1898-1908. Building a sales campaign ; Building the load ; Building a political consensus -- The electric city, 1902-1912. Electricity comes to the neighborhood ; Electricity comes to the urban fringe ; Electricity comes into the home -- The suburban matrix of energy, 1902-1914. Electricity comes to main street ; Metropolitan connections ; Regional networks ; A regional community of energy consumers -- Part III: The integration of a region, 1914-1932. The energy crisis and the birth of the machine age, 1914-1919. "This is war" ; "Mechanization takes command" ; "Diversify, fertilize, motorize, specialize" ; "A gold-plated anarchist" -- The emergence of an energy-intensive society, 1919-1928. "How long should a wife live?" ; "Where will you rear your children?" ; "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm?" -- A ubiquitous world of energy.

Summary:

Describes consumers' shifting habits of fuel consumption, tracing how use of wood led to burning coal and coal gas, to the arrival, to the arrival of the arc lamp, and then the coming of electricity. Shows that the city government and utility brokers faced two problems: how to generate a cheap supply of electricity, and how to sell electrical energy to people who were already enjoying gas services. The solutions were found by Samuel Insull, president of Commonwealth Edison Company, who put electrical technology on a sound economic footing.

Resources:
ACLS Humanities
Table of contents
Table of contents
Table of contents
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required
Electronic access restricted; authentication may be required
Contributor biographical information
Publisher description

ISBN:

0226670759 (alk. paper)
9780226670751 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Insull, Samuel, 1859-1938.
Insull, Samuel.
Commonwealth Edison Company History.
Commonwealth Edison Company
Electric utilities Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area History.
Electrification Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area History.
Services publics d'électricité Illinois Chicago, Agglomération de Histoire.
Électrification Illinois Chicago, Agglomération de Histoire.
Electric utilities
Electrification
Elektrizitätsversorgung
Elektriciteitsvoorziening.
Stedelijke ontwikkeling.
Electric utilities Illinois Chicago History.
Electrification Illinois Chicago History.
Chicago Metropolitan Area (Ill.) History.
Chicago, Agglomération de (Ill.) Histoire.
Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area
Chicago, Ill. Region
Chicago (Ill.) History.
Electric utilities History Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area
Electrification History Illinois Chicago Metropolitan Area

Form/genre:

History

Host item:

ACLS Humanities E-Book.

Added entries:

Humanities Open Book.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 82671
Call No.: ID HD9685.U6 C556; ID:95-B3025
Status: Available