When the 1893 Columbian Exposition opened on the shores of Lake Michigan, visitors to the fair were treated to a glimpse of the future. Chicago, the great classical “White City” by day, at night became a magically illuminated world of colored lights.
President Grover Cleveland opened the exhibition by pushing a button that set the great dynamo engine in motion with its alternating-current generator providing power to thousands of incandescent bulbs. At that moment, America first saw the promise of electricity on full display.
Thomas Edison’s incandescent bulb was the great invention that would change the way people lived. No longer would the waning daylight mean the end of the working day. But Edison’s bulb was powered by direct current—and direct current couldn’t travel very far from the source of its generation….