Vulcan Street Plant

A modest but genuinely important historic marker stands near the Fox River where the Vulcan Street Plant once hummed in 1882. This was the first hydroelectric central power station in the world — the plant that powered Hearthstone's lights and put Appleton on the map of technological history, a full step ahead of Edison's famous Manhattan operation.

The site itself is not much to look at — a replica of the original generator and an interpretive marker — but for anyone interested in industrial history, it is worth the short walk from downtown. The Fox River flows past as it has always done, entirely indifferent to its small role in changing how the modern world works.

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A story
The Vulcan Street Plant opened on September 30, 1882 — the same day Edison lit up Hearthstone. It was the first Edison hydroelectric central station in the world, beating his famous Pearl Street Station in New York (which ran on steam) by producing electricity from the current of the Fox River. The original building is long gone, but a marker and replica generator stand at the site.