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1908 – leased to I&M 1974
Founded: The city's municipal electric utility. Fort Wayne first declared the need for a municipal light and power plant in 1898; voters approved construction in a 1906 referendum; the plant opened 29 August 1908 (ACGSI dates generation from September 1908), and the first service meter was set on Christmas Eve 1908. By December 1909 there were 780 users and 650 applications waiting.
What it did: Generated and sold electricity to Fort Wayne homes and businesses at municipal rates, competing with the private Indiana Service Corporation — the two-system arrangement that powered the city for two generations.
Course: The plant at 1950 North Clinton Street was enlarged and modernised from 1929 to 1934 — new turbine room, switchboard and boiler plant and a 15,000 kW turbo-generator — with the improvements, the city boasted, made at no taxpayer expense. The rebuilt plant served for nearly forty years.
Fate: After a referendum in the May 1974 primary, Mayor Ivan Lebamoff signed a thirty-five-year lease of the municipal operation to Indiana & Michigan Electric Company in September 1974; I&M took over operations on 1 March 1975 and the plant closed that year. Since 1995 the old City Light building has been the home of Science Central, the hands-on science museum.
Sources:
- ACGSI, "City Light, Fort Wayne" — the 1898 declaration, 1906 vote, September 1908 generation, Christmas Eve meter; the 1929–34 works; the 1974 lease; I&M takeover 1 March 1975; Science Central from 1995.
- Visit Fort Wayne, "Explore Science Central through a Historic Lens" — the 29 August 1908 opening; December 1909 users; the plant's 1975 closure.
- City of Fort Wayne, City Light lease settlement fact sheet — the 1974 referendum and 35-year I&M lease.