Think About it. Bright Idea. Tonight once again we will Light up the Town to commemorate the fact that Wabash was the first. Mary and I had recently returned from the City of Lights where the Louvre was first brightened by Compagnie Générale d’Électriqué in 1778. Not long after, we heard that someone was writing a musical touting Wabash, Indiana as the first electrically lighted city in the world in 1880.
Frequent readers, aware of my incessant curiosity will understand that my interest was piqued. Turns out that that someone was former Wabash teacher known to her students as Mrs. Susan Jones (friends all seem to call her Susie) had been working on the project for ten years. How did I know she could and would really do it? When the extraordinary Honeywell Center announced the dates for Light Up the Town, we ordered center-orchestra seats, scheduled lodging and prepared for the trip.
While the talented writer worked at lyrics and melodies, your curious Sage sought enlightenment on the subject. Naysayers offer Philadelphia as first, for using street lights in 1879. The Thames Embankment in London was in 1878. You’d think the real credit would go to Cleveland, where young genius Charles Brush had refined Humphry Davy’s arc light for more efficiency and tested a few in the Public Square only a few months before Thomas Edison’s first light bulb was turned on. The attempt received mixed reviews from the public as well as the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper.
Meanwhile the Wabash Weekly Plain Dealer was risking its reputation by promoting the potential and urging the city fathers to spend the $100 negotiated with Brush for a test atop the court house. The result’s reported April 9, 1880? “The City Council…. stated that they were satisfied that the light more than fulfilled the guarantee that had been made The light has now been burning nearly two weeks, and careful tests have been made as to the cost, which show it to be not only the cheapest light in the world, but actually workings are better than any estimates yet made.”
As for Light Up the Town, the joy with which dozens of local performers of all ages sang and danced through the poetic musical story gave the audience a delightful evening of genuine entertainment. While I extolled the words and music, Mary applauded the choreography. Playing the part of after-show “stage door Johnny”, I worked my way through the fans ‘til I could have a brief audience with exhausted author. Obviously she has recovered, the Weavers now live in Wabash, and I’d be willing to bet we’ll see Susie at the courthouse at 6:30 tonight.
Others had tried lighting here and there around and about their communities, but it is clear that Wabash 1880 and Susan Jones with Light up the Town really were each the first with the Bright Idea. Think About It.