The Night The Lights Went On
Family Fun | August 24, 2017
By Linda Peterson, Hearthstone Historic House Museum
Residents of the Fox Valley will be able to step back into the Victorian Era to celebrate the advent of residential electricity in Appleton on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 5 –9pm. That’s when Hearthstone Historic House Museum will host a public anniversary celebration of the Night the Lights Went On at Hearthstone.
It was 135 years ago, in September 1882, when the lights first went on at Hearthstone, making it the first house in the world to have electricity from a central hydroelectric source. A group of Appleton residents gathered for that occasion. The idea of the avant garde electric power replacing the reliable gaslights created a combination of excitement, skepticism and fear.
The lawn of Hearthstone will be bustling, with volunteers dressed in Victorian clothing and yard games typical of the era including tug of war, stilts, hoops, croquet, and badminton. Vintage music will be provided by a brass ensemble; the North Shore barbershop quartet and members of the Appleton Boychoir.
Families are invited to bring a lawn chair and blanket. An on-site food truck will offer foods that might have been favorites of the time.
The highlight of the event will be a skit recreating the 1882 illumination of Hearthstone. Actors will portray Henry J. Rogers, who built and installed electric lights in his home, E. P. Humphry, editor of the Appleton Post, as well as early community leaders, including Augustus Ledyard Smith, Henry D. Smith and Charles A. Beveridge.
Appleton Mayor Tim Hanna will portray J. H. Marston , who was Appleton’s mayor in 1882. Mayor Hanna also will make a special proclamation about the important place Hearthstone and Appleton play in the history of hydroelectricity.
After the skit, Hearthstone will be open for nighttime tours. Visitors will experience the ambiance of a Victorian home lit with 1880 electroliers and replica bulbs, which are equivalent to roughly seven watts. Hearthstone is the only house in the world to retain its original Thomas Edison light fixtures, cleats, wiring, and switches. Costumed docents will be on hand to answer questions as guests tour the house.
Hearthstone’s own “Grandma Clare” Hilgendorf will be reading children’s stories from the 1880s on the veranda at various times during the event. One of her stories will be the children’s book she published earlier this year: Mitchell the Mansion Mouse. The book details the shenanigans of a lovable mouse and his friends, who lie low during the day, but have great adventures when no humans are around. One night the clever creatures even saved Hearthstone from a gang of thieves.
Copies of the book will be for sale, with all proceeds benefiting Hearthstone. Grandma Clare will be happy to provide personalized autographs for anyone buying a book.
The Night the Lights Went On Event is free and open to the public.
There will be a charge for the night-time tours of Hearthstone, which will cost the normal daytime tour prices of $8 for adults, $5 for children ages 5-17, free for Hearthstone members.
The Appleton Downtown Trolley will make special stops at the corner of State St. and Prospect Ave., that evening, to drop guests off one block from Hearthstone.
The Trolley, which is free, also stops at the Vulcan Central Station, which will be open for free tours that day, from 4-6pm. The station is a replica of the original central power station and illustrates how early hydroelectricity enabled the Fox River to illuminate nearby paper mills and Hearthstone.
Hearthstone is located at 625 W. Prospect Ave., Appleton.
Guests are asked to park on Third, State or Front Streets, or to ride the Downtown Trolley, as there will be no parking available at Hearthstone.
Photo by Julie Berglund, www.JBerglundPhoto.com
