If Edison and his backers had their way, May 6, 1893 would not have given birth to the first demonstration of the future of energy. Tesla’s designs for alternate energy that is.
If Edison and his backers had their way, to this very day we would see “power trolls” big brothering every block of every city in the world with smoke-stacked, coal-burning Edison power stations.
If Edison and his backers had their way, we today would not know the fruits of the labor of the Father of Renewable Resources, the Father of Green Energy, Nicola Tesla.
It was on this day, May 6, 1893, that a division of the Niagara Power Company, called the Cataract Construction Corporation (aka Cataract Power Conduit Co) decided to use Tesla’s alternating current (AC) for power generation and transmission. Financiers included J.P. Morgan, John Astor, William Vanderbilt and Edward Dean Adams.
Niagara Falls Power Company had, a few years earlier, offered a $100,000 prize to whoever could develop a system to transmit electricity long distance. Niagara was bursting with power at this time but it couldn’t be transmitted anywhere, particularly to its needy neighbor, Buffalo. Still, no one responded to this colossal offer. Then a worldwide search began. The world’s brightest minds held a meeting in London, England.
The younger scientists preferred alternating current while the elders, led by the proprietary instincts of Edison, favored direct current. Against Edison’s pleas, renewable green power won over money, and alternating electrical current was selected as the standard to be used.
Young Nikola Tesla, who was born in Smiljan, Croatia in 1856, created the first effective alternating current transmission system the world had ever known. His designs, not Edison’s smoke stacks, would be adapted worldwide. George Westinghouse, the American inventor and manufacturer, undertook to develop Tesla’s brilliant system, and in 1883, created an illumination system for Niagara Falls using AC current.
By 1895, the Niagara Falls Power Company began working with Westinghouse to procure long distance electric transmission development that could handle 1,250 horsepower. The stringing of overhead wires made it capable of transmitting 11,000 volts.
Then, the big day in Buffalo, and the world, arrives! On November 15th 1896, Buffalo joined the power grid generated from Niagara Falls. It became the first recipient of long distance transmission of electricity. From the Niagara Power Station, manmade electricity flowed long distance for the first time in history, to a building that still stands in Buffalo. The building is so very little known… but not for long.
At the time, the building that sits at 2280 Niagara Street in Buffalo, corner of Ontario Street, was the Tesla engineering-designed energy station owned by the Cataract Power Conduit Company. This was the terminus for the historic first long distance electrical transmission.
Today, the property is owned by world-renowned Buffalo inventor/businessman Conrad Mikulec, who also happens to be the son of one of the founders of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Stanley Mikulec. Conrad, a robust and lightening speed septuagenarian, has been a tireless inventor since the age of 16, when he began developing the world’s first A-B-C fire extinguisher (that you now have in your homes). Among other inventions, Conrad developed the world’s first UL-approved aluminum diving cylinder, which accelerated the notion of recreational diving. His first customer was oceanographer Jaques Cousteau.
Mikulec’s company, called Power Pak, has been housed at 2280 Niagara Street for decades. Still under his ownership and control, he has solid visions for the building’s transformation into a Tesla Center – a mixed-use property citing alternate energy museum and think tank conference center. Conrad remarks, “For Tesla’s vision to win over Edison’s was a David-Goliath challenge, the legacy of which our world is a better place.” He adds, “I am proud to place my hopes and resources toward bringing his spirit back to this historic site.”
Mikulec’s forthcoming foundation will seek to restore the complex to its original design as well as add amenities to make it a center of vibrant use. For those interested in becoming a part of the Restoration Committee, contact me, at wnysail@yahoo.com. For full disclosure, I was once Mr. Mikulec’s morning paperboy, and am a lifelong friend and currently a fellow trustee of the foundation to restore Niagara Street’s Tesla power station complex.
Indeed we are forever uncovering the mystery of our Buffalo history. If this Earth of ours ever saw a greater battle over its use of resources, that battlefield was begun on this day, in Buffalo. And it was won for the world’s greater good. May our Buffalo always keep Rising.
Bill Zimmermann would love to continue to talk to Buffalonians out on the lake this summer. He runs a sailing school by the name of 7 Seas for anyone who may be interested in taking advantage of Buffalo’s incredible sailing season.