|
The Town of Mansfield voted June 25, 1903 to establish and operate a Municipal Lighting Plant and voted to issue bonds for $40,000 to cover the costs involved. The Building committee, appointed by the selectmen, purchased a lot of land on West Church Street consisting of 26,480 square feet. The land was bought for a reasonable price of four cents per square foot.
H.B. Rust & Co., Electrical Contractors of Providence, RI, were awarded a contract totaling $38,300 for the work necessary to get the plant up and running. A brick building was built to house the generation equipment and department offices. The same building is still in use today as a garage for the department's Bucket trucks
All of the town's electricity would be supplied by two 150 - horsepower American Diesel engines that were connected to two 100 - kilowatt inductor - type alternators. The contract awarded the Rust Co. also provided for 345 lights to be installed on four street lighting circuits that were being constructed thus the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department was established.
|
