Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2013, 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.

Committee: Walter E. Grunden PhD (Advisor); Rebecca Mancuso PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Energy; History; Modern History; Science History; Technology