One night late in 1917 or early 1918, the electrical age arrived in Cecilton. As darkness descended, current flowed through wires causing lights to flicker on in businesses and homes, while lamps on poles illuminated streets. The Cecilton Electric Light and Power Company had launched this important undertaking in July 1917 when the investors told businessmen that they could shortly do away with oil lamps.
The managers working to displace old kerosene lamps were Wm. H. Brown, Dr. R. M. Black, Wm, H. Alderson, President; E. S. Short, and William Luthringer.1
A Fire Plunges Town into Darkness
About the time people started getting used to chasing off the darkness with modern electricity, a blaze erupted at the powerhouse. On that Friday evening in November 1920, the fire grew beyond what the employees and townspeople could control so someone telephoned the Middletown Fire Company.
The Delaware firefighters answered the alarm, rushing an engine over. Although it wasn’t possible to save the power company property, the firefighters stopped it from spreading to nearby buildings. That autumn night, the town plunged into darkness except for hastily located kerosene lamps. Consequently, the utility purchased a new electric light station and dynamo, bringing current back to town in a few months.2,3
To help with the expense, the Cecilton Electric Light Company planned a carnival to raise $2,500 for new machinery in 1920. But Rev. T. R. Van Dyke, pastor of the Cecilton M.E. Church “declared that carnivals were a great injury to the morals of any community and a most undesirable method of raising money.” The managers called it off as the minister went out among the people to collect the full amount. After finishing his rounds, Rev. Van Dyke presented the contributions to the town commissioners enabling them to make the final payment on the machinery.4
Nevertheless, the company held carnivals some years during the roaring ’20s, the big draw being an automobile they chanced off. In 1925, the managers made a profit of $1,153.72.5
Large Utilities Move In
As the industry matured and the Great Depression neared consolidation brought changes for rural utilities across the nation. The interconnected grids enabled small towns to receive service village generating plants couldn’t provide. In line with this, one buyer offered the Cecilton Electric Light and Power Company $11,000 in 1928.
Meanwhile, the Maryland Public Service Commission started investigating rumors about Eastern Shore offers. Luke Ellis, the agency’s fieldman, learned of multiple attempts by “undetermined interests” from Frank “Home Run” Baker, a former Talbot County Baseball Star. Overtures had been made to purchase the Trappe Electric Company,” Baker reported. These same buyers had offered the Millington Plant $70,000.6
Lower Rates Promised
Representatives of the undetermined syndicate promised “lower rates” through the transmission of current from the Conowingo Dam. But W. H. Taylor, president of the Philadelphia Electric Company said no contract or deal had been proposed to furnish power to any Eastern Shore utilities. The state advised that it wouldn’t allow prices in excess of the valuations to be paid as the public would “suffer through higher rates in the future.”6
Following the investigation, the Commission issued an order permitting a subsidiary of the Empire Public Service Corporation of Chicago, a utility operating in 14 states, to merge the small Maryland companies into its network in 1930. Ratepayers, the Commission said, would benefit from ownership by an adequately financed and managed corporation that would extend service and provide cost efficiencies to benefit the public. Operating as the Maryland Light & Power Company, this consolidated concern had acquired thirteen firms in this area, including Betterton, Millington, Trappe, Love Point, Somerset County, and Cecilton.7,8
Rural Electrification
A few more decades slipped by before farmers and residents in the outlying areas of the First District could chase off the darkness with a flip of the switch. While they waited for the current to flow, people met in Cecilton one afternoon in April 1939 to express interest in extending the lines.
During these years, summer developments popped up along the waterways, increasing demand. One of those seasonal resorts, White Crystal wrote in the community newsletter, the “Manor Messenger” in 1939 that the Beach stood at the threshold of another major improvement. “Prospects of getting electricity next year would mean running water, radios, electric stoves, good lighting, and a thousand of the conveniences that have been sacrificed by everyone for the fresh air, the sunshine and water,” the editor remarked. “We won’t have to say to our visitors, “We just camp out down here!” No with the advent of electricity . . . we will be able to say ‘This is our summer home . . . “9
But World War II got in the way. Finally, the first lines were energized in 1948 for those necks and remote farms in southern Cecil County.
Other Uitilies in Cecilton
By the way, Cecilton had two other utilities. One, the gas company piped gas to houses and streets of town by August 1904. Mr. Short, the owner, produced gas from a small brick gas house on the east end of town. Rudolph G. Anklam of Denton had built the acetylene plant and installed the mains in July 1904.10.
There was also the Cecilton and Earlville Telephone Company.
- Public Service Commission of Maryland, Report. Report for the Year 1918, Case No. 1457, Korn & Pollock, Baltimore, 1919[↩]
- “Ceciliton Light Plant Burns,” Smyrna Times, Jan. 14, 1920[↩]
- Industrial Development and Manufacturers Record, 1920, pp 187, 202[↩]
- “Pastor Heads Off Carnival,” Smyrna Times,” Sept. 15, 1920[↩]
- “Cecilton,” Midland Journal, Nov. 20, 1925[↩]
- “Probing Efforts to Buy Utilities,” Baltimore Sun, March 25, 1928 p. 3[↩][↩]
- “Maryland Utilities Merger Sanctioned,” Evening Star, Washington, D.C., April 3, 1930 p. 13[↩]
- “Thirteen Electric Firms Named in Maryland Merger,” Evening Star, Washington, DC., Dec. 28, 1929 p 18[↩]
- “Let There Be Light,” The Manor Messenger, Vol. 1, No. 1. June 30, 1939[↩]
- “Local Items,” Denton Journal, July 29, 1904[↩]