DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm proud to pass it along. Now, the town of Greenville, Hunt County, Texas — they didn't wait around for somebody else to flip the switch. What you're lookin' at here is the first municipally owned electric plant in the entire state of Texas.
The whole state. Let that settle for a second. March 4th, 1891, they opened up shop right there on Town Branch, and Greenville lit up.
A steam engine — running only at night, mind you, only at night — was turning two dynamos, and those dynamos were feeding forty street arc lights and a thousand home lights. A thousand. In 1891.
Folks walking those streets after dark had to know something special had happened. Now, for nearly two decades, the sun went down and then, and only then, did Greenville's plant come to life. Daytime use didn't begin until 1909.
You have to wonder what it felt like the first afternoon somebody threw that switch and the lights came on while the sun was still up. Then comes 1933, and diesel enters the picture — modernizing, always modernizing. And by the time this marker was put to record, the plant had grown to eight diesel engines, still partnered with that steam engine.
Eight diesels and a steam engine. Greenville came to the electric age first, and it never looked back.
What the marker says
First municipally owned electric plant in Texas. Opened Mar. 4, 1891, on Town Branch. Steam engine, operating only at night, ran 2 dynamos for 40 street arc and 1000 home lights. Daytime use began 1909. Diesel installed 1933. Now has 8 diesels plus steam engine.