Alsfeld under electricity!Arrival of electricity and progress

Only 17 years after the major cities of Berlin and Frankfurt were electrified in 1882, the city of Alsfeld also commissioned a new power station, which brought the long-awaited electric light to the town in 1900. Today, few residents know that Alsfeld’s first power plant was located on the street “Am Lieden,” that the brightness of the new light bulbs was measured in candlepower, and that power lines ran across the rooftops of the houses.

The first electricity to flow through Alsfeld’s newly laid lines was delivered into homes via masts standing on the roofs and was initially intended almost exclusively for electric lighting. Furthermore, one must realize that at first, there were often only a few light sources available—not per room, but in the entire house!

Within just a few years, electricity and progress arrived in the province. Only a few homeowners and citizens hesitated to fill out the application for connection to the electrical grid, and even then only at the very beginning. This progress was visible in the increasing number of utility poles and lines on the roofs, which were not moved underground until the 1950s and 60s. (MNic)