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Lighting Up the Darkness: Electrification in Ohio, 1879-1945

Moore, Kevin L
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363379469

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, History.
This thesis argues that electrification in Ohio, which spread from cities to the countryside, required a strong impetus from the Federal Government to reach its ultimate fulfillment. The author attempts to address a lacuna in the scholarship of electrification by providing an original work on the history of electrification in Ohio. This thesis makes use of a “case study” approach to examine the topic in a three-stage analytical framework: urban electrification in Cleveland to address the changes in public perception regarding power and the resulting municipal reform; the transition of Toledo's interurban railways from primarily traction companies to electrical power companies to illustrate the expansion of electrical access beyond the municipality making the issue a state concern; and restriction of Ohio’s utility holding companies and the electrification of Miami and Shelby Counties by the Rural Electrification Administration to examine how firm federal policies succeeded where state and local intervention could not. The case is made here using a synthesis of existing literature on electrification and archival research. The present work concludes that the earliest attempts to expand electrification were made by private enterprise, but private efforts were most successful in cities where higher population densities guaranteed higher profits. Government actions on the part of municipal and state institutions tried to further electrification beyond the areas serviced by private utilities, but they lacked the resources and authority of the federal government.
Walter E. Grunden, PhD (Advisor)
Rebecca Mancuso, PhD (Committee Member)
134 p.
American History; Energy; History; Modern History; Science History; Technology
Ohio electrification; U.S. electrification; rural electrification in Ohio; Rural Electrification Administration; Ohio interurbans; Tom L. Johnson; US power policy; Ohio Progressive Era; interurbans; Ohio utilities; rural electric cooperatives; modern Ohio

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Moore, K. L. (2013). Lighting Up the Darkness: Electrification in Ohio, 1879-1945 [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363379469

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Moore, Kevin. Lighting Up the Darkness: Electrification in Ohio, 1879-1945. 2013. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363379469.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Moore, Kevin. "Lighting Up the Darkness: Electrification in Ohio, 1879-1945." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363379469

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1363379469
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© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.