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Property Features
"On November 25, 1882, the Vulcan Street Hydroelectric Central Station began operation. The Vulcan Street Plant represents an early use of hydro-power to generate electricity and perhaps one of the earliest examples of a hydroelectric plant that sold electricity commercially and provided incandescent lighting service to the public. The replica was designated as a local historic structure in 2007."
Original site of the first hydroelectric power plant. Additional map codes are: FCS 8/26 12/7. F in the photo codes is short for FCS. This is a replica of a ca. 1880s hydroelectric station located at this site. Named National Engineering Monument 1932.
FCS 8/26 - VULCAN STREET POWER STATION, APPLETON - is a single story, rectangular, side-gabled utilitarian building. Clad with wooden board and batten and roofed with asphalt shingles, it was the first hydroelectric plant in the region. The re-sited building is supported by a perimeter half story of posts. A modern porch with front and stairs spans the main facade. Transmission line insulators are mounted in rows between and above the front door and windows, and along a strip on the right end wall. There are sash windows with plain surrounds in the rear and right walls. A descriptive and dedicatory historic plaque on a post behind the building can be read from the adjacent road.
National And State Register Of Historic Places Listings
Architecture & History Inventory
The Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory (AHI) is a digital source of information on historic buildings, structures, and objects that have been surveyed by the State Historic Preservation Office in Wisconsin. Each property has a digital record providing basic information about the property and images.
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Vulcan Street Power Plant
Fox River
The first Edison hydroelectric central station to serve a system of private and commercial customers in North America that began operation on September 30, 1882. The story of its development provid...
Vulcan Street Plant Replica Historic Marker
100 Vulcan Street, Appleton
