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Pearl Street Station begins commercial electric service in New York

On 4 September 1882 Edison’s Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan began supplying direct-current electricity to nearby customers. In the causal graph this event strengthens Energy Security, a driver that strengthens Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population) — a worsening welfare path.

Sources: [1][2]

Read the full account

On 4 September 1882 Edison’s Pearl Street Station in lower Manhattan began supplying direct-current electricity to nearby customers. It is a dated utility opening, not a national grid.

Context

The station used coal-fired steam engines and Edison dynamos. Fire, load, and the short reach of DC were known limits.

Thomas Edison is not the sole author of every later object, law, or museum label that uses the name. Shared work with courts, excavators, printers, spouses, officials, and later states does not erase a documented role, and it does not make an ancient person the signer of a twentieth-century statute.

Why it matters

High confidence on the opening date.

A district station is not the 1930s grid.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Thomas Edison

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.7 · verified

    Edison designed and promoted the central-station system. The company, city permissions, and operators ran it.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

    1. FactPearl Street Station begins commercial electric service in New York
    2. strengthensDriverEnergy Security
    3. strengthensIndicators (4)Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)
    Mixed path

    impact weight 0.55 · Effect from 4 September 1882 · verified

    A steam-driven generating station distributing direct current to a defined district is the first U.S. public electric utility of this type.

    • Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)

      via Energy Security

      Worse

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.34 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.62)

      Observed

      10.4% · 10.2 above the normal line (2024)

      Worse than normal

      7 readings, 2018–2024: fell from 11.1% to 10.4%.

      Above normal = worse

    • Inability to keep home adequately warm

      via Energy Security

      Better

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.33 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.6)

      Observed

      7.97% of population aged 16 years or over · 5.2 above the normal line (2025)

      Worse than normal

      8 readings, 2018–2025: rose from 7.77% of population aged 16 years or over to 7.97% of population aged 16 years or over.

      Above normal = worse

    • Access to electricity (share of world population)

      via Energy Security

      Better

      Strengthens · Relationship strength 0.28 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.5)

      Observed

      91.6% of population · 8.4 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      4 readings, 2020–2023: rose from 90.4% of population to 91.6% of population.

      Above normal = better

    All indicators on this path (4)

    • Life expectancy at birth

      via Energy Security

      Worse

      Weakens · Relationship strength 0.26 (weight 0.55 × strength 0.48)

      Observed

      80 Years · 2.3 below the normal line (2023)

      Worse than normal

      6 readings, 2018–2023: rose from 79.5 Years to 80 Years.

      Above normal = better

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.History of Con Edison (Pearl Street lineage)Consolidated Edison · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.ETHW — Pearl Street StationIEEE / ETHW · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

IEEE/ETHW’s Pearl Street article and Con Edison’s corporate history independently date 4 September 1882.

Established: Pearl Street in commercial service 4 September 1882. Not established: universal urban electrification, or that AC distribution was already chosen.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorThomas Edison
  2. contributed toFactPearl Street Station begins commercial electric service in New York
  3. strengthensDriverEnergy Security
  4. strengthensIndicatorPoverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). Pearl Street Station begins commercial electric service in New York. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/us-edison-pearl-street-1882

https://factrail.ai/facts/us-edison-pearl-street-1882

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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