The Pilcher Electric Light Company
In 1879 in far off New Jersey, at a place known as Menlo Park, Thomas Edison demonstrated the first practical electric light bulb, a means of illumination which offered safety benefits over the use of coal oil and candles for illumination. An enterprising and far-seeing Deadwood citizen, Judge Squire Romans, teamed with two others to bring the new marvel of electric illumination to the frontier. After gaining the necessary right of ways and bringing an Edison generator to the town, Romans obtained fifteen lighting fixtures to demonstrate in Deadwood. The demonstration was a success and the Pilcher Electric Light Company was born, determined to illuminate the businesses, homes, and streets of Deadwood.
At the time, the equipment necessary to provide the electrical power to the lights was still unreliable, and the bulbs often flickered as the voltage varied. Lights increased and decreased in illumination, and at a time when electricity was still little understood by most it was considered both magical and a bit dangerous. But its advantages were seen by many. Thus only four years after Edison demonstrated the practicality of electric lighting Deadwood, more than 1800 miles to the west of Menlo Park, had electric lighting installed in its streets. The town was illuminated before several neighborhoods of major eastern cities received electric lights.