Kira the wanderer

Alrighty then. As I was just currently typing I hit a fork in the road. Should I type what I think is right with doubt in my mind, or should I confirm my confusion with WF? Well, thankfully I chose you guys.

Okay, way back when electricity was first used among common folk it was mostly used for bussinesses. The common folk who worked in these places didn't have it in their homes. But... when exactly did it become common but not too common for people to have electiricty?

I just want to make sure I have my facts straight here, around the turn of the century in the 1800's I'm assuming homes had electricity. I mean, it's practically the 1900's in my story and I'm almost certain homes had it. Lightbulbs and everything. Correct me if I'm wrong, I just want to be absolute on this.

woodcut.evolution

Depends where your story is set. In cities residentual areas had electricity pretty much at the sametime as industry (industry was generating and using their own before big producers like Edison Electric). In rural areas they did not have electricity until well into the 20th century.

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Mike C

In the UK electricity in the home wasn't overly common until the late 19th/beginning of the 20th century. I have been in houses built around this time that still have the original gas mantles on the walls.

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Kira the wanderer

Thanks. My setting is in a rural area, which may be a bit of a problem.

mammamaia

if your characters live on a farm, chances are they won't have electricity... but if they live in town, they probably will... the better-off farmers could have had it, while the poorer ones wouldn't... but you're the writer, so you can make it whatever you want it to be...

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Selorian

Note: It also depended on the finacial status of the family/person.

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FrankBlissett

As stated before, it was throughout the first half of the 20th century that rural areas were connected. This was one of the FD Roosevelt's pet depression-ear projects I think.

That said, many farms got tractors and autos long before electricity, and could have used them as generators if they had a compelling reason to. Though that would only have been for special occassions - ie, if your house is already rigged for gas light, then why run the machine that your livelihood depends on just to use an electric light.

Another factor to consider when talking about electricity from a century+ ago is that the original eletrical systems were DC rather than AC. It's more than an academic issue too. DC could only be run a short ways from the power source - that's why, in the late 1800s, Buffalo NY and Sault Sainte Marie MI were considered to be on the verge of being huge industrial centers. Specificly, they were good spots to build hydro plants (and had navagable waterways to boot). About 100 years ago, though, AC became the standard and allowed areas in BFE to be wired (and power plants to be built anywhere).

-Frank

ps: Interestingly, the first phonograph players used electric motors as Edison figured that they would be most marketable to businesses. When people started using them for home entertainment though, models were switched to a cranked motor to expand market depth.

Kira the wanderer

Wow. Thanks Frank.