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Centennial Souvenir Program, 1954
Between the years 1894 and 1896, Samuel Smiley, Joseph Porter, Philip Heyde, and Ernest Tiedemann, constructed a light, power, heat, and water plant near the present site of the B & O water tank. This building housed a dynamo, water pump, and other machinery necessary for operation. Oliver Darrow served as the first electrician in this plant. In October 1904, Ordinance No. 87 granted a franchise to O'Fallon Light Power and Water Company, the successor of the original operators of the plant. The franchise was accepted by George W. Tiedemann, President, and Chas. T. Smiley, Secretary of the Company. The stockholders of the company in January 1910 elected the following officers: George W. Tiedemann, president; H. E. Tiedemann, vice-president; E. H. Smiley, secretary; and C. E. Tiedemann, treasurer. O'Fallon Light Power and Water Company served the residents of O'Fallon until the early 1920s when electrical service was supplied by the Illinois Light and Power Company. The number of homes being serviced was increasing, electric lights replacing kerosene lamps. By December 1933, during the depression years, the city council was seeking a P.W.A. loan of $145,000 to build a municipal light and power plant. An election was held November 29, 1933 with an approved vote of 621 for and 427 against. This plan was not realized. Records show that the members of the city council at a meeting on February 4, 1935 were advised by Engineer W. A. Fuller of St. Louis that they could still entertain hopes for the erection of a municipal electric plant. In the event the city intended to build the plant, Engineer Fuller stated he had contacted a party who would negotiate with the city to take the bonds. Later the Public Works Administration advised that no government loan on a steam plant could be entertained but that consideration for a loan on Deisel engines would be given. Deisel engines could be installed for approximately $20,000 less than steam and was [sic] far more economical in operation. With this information no further progress was made by the administration, which contended that O'Fallon is in a coal mining district and as such would be interested in consuming fuel produced in this locality. For five weeks O'Fallon was affected more or less by the strike of the Illinois Power Light Company in the spring of 1935. Three weeks of this period, the town was in complete darkness, being affected along with some other 50 cities. When it was officially learned that the strike was over and power would be restored, at midnight June 12, 1935, announcement was immediately made to the Perry Coal Company that St. Ellen mine would reopen the morning of June 14, with several hundred miners returning to their work that morning. Arrangements were hurriedly completed for resumption of work at the plant of the Eureka Steel Range Company which experienced a shut down of five weeks resulting from low voltage and complete suspension of power. At the time of the forced shut-down the range company had 535 people on its payroll and was operating steady. The council in July 1938 rejected a P.W.A. grant of $76,000 because of inability to raise an additional $100,000 necessary to build a light and power plant. No other attempt has been made to revive the project for a municipal plant. In June of 1950, the city council granted a 50 years lighting franchise to the Illinois Power Company. Since that time, the company has erected "a white way" on the main thoroughfares of the city of O'Fallon and has furnished more adequate street lighting for the entire community. ---18---
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