special train arrives in Menlo Park from Thomas Alva Edison with a large concourse of municipal dignitaries. The Kentucky bourbon and cigars are ready. So are the 200 streetlights with filament bulbs along the avenue. Even the gas superintendent (gas lamps were the alternative), Stephen McCormick, admits that filament bulbs are safer, so as not to risk hotel guests never waking up. Councilman John McClave predicts New York will be without gas lamps by 1900. The next morning, the newspapers announce that Edison’s Illuminating Company has been granted permission to bring electric light to 51 blocks in downtown Manhattan between the East River, Nassau, Wall Street, and Spruce Street. Two and a half square kilometers in the most populated area of the city.
