The New York Edison Company was the largest provider of electricity in New York City in the 1920s, employing a fleet of several hundred vehicles that maintained and serviced the utility company’s network. The New York Edison Company Vehicle Fleet Photograph Collection in the collections of the Northwestern University Transportation Library comprises 656 photographs documenting the electric utility company’s fleet in the late 1920s, and is now fully available online through our Digital Collections portal.
The photographs in the collection were originally bound in a hulking ledger-style album. They were disbound and rehoused in archival-quality housings by the library’s Preservation & Conservation Department before digitization.
Electric cars first appeared in the U.S. around 1890 and enjoyed popularity throughout the 1910s thanks to being quiet, clean, and easy to operate. In fact, Thomas Edison, founder of the afore-mentioned electric company, had experimented with electric automobiles in the early 20th century and even held patents for electric cars. Electric trucks were likewise a common sight in the early 20th century, used to deliver goods, services, or provide utility service – as seen in this album.
The photographs in the collection illustrate both electric and gasoline-powered vehicles. Each Edison Company vehicle in the album is marked with a designation beginning either with an “E” (meaning “Electric”) or a “G” (meaning “Gas”), followed by a fleet number. Differences in body style between electric and gasoline trucks are apparent in looking through the photographs.
Gas-powered trucks required an internal combustion engine, for which a more extended front end was required. It’s easy to spot the differences when compared with an electric truck, whose electric motor allowed for more flexibility with front end design.
For example, the photograph below shows a vehicle numbered G151, a gasoline-powered emergency vehicle.
The photograph that follows is painted with the fleet number E507. It’s clear that there’s not an engine at the front of this electric truck, as its electric motor allowed for a more flexible design.
Other vehicles are painted with the slogan “Trucking by Electricity.”
Still others bear the electric utility company’s logo, an illustration of a lightbulb being carried on a serving tray.
In addition to the New York Edison Company’s fleet, there are several vehicles photographed in the collection which were owned by the Yonkers Electric Light and Power Company, a subsidiary of New York Edison. The fleet numbers for these vehicles begin with a “Y”
The album also offers glimpses at New York of the late 1920s, as the city’s streets, buildings, and infrastructure are captured in photographs along with the Edison Company’s vehicles. The photo below shows a crew installing a streetlight on a city street while onlookers watch.
The above is one of several photographs in the collection that document workers and the installation or service of electric utility infrastructure.
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