Electric Lights The last and most popular building on the tour of the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago was the fair's pride and joy: called the Electricity Building, it showcased the electrical system that lit the fair at night. From the Electricity Building ran the generators that powered the interior illumination of buildings, the illumination of the grounds, and electric search lights, and it housed exhibits for all kinds of electrical appliances, including electric lamps. Though electricity was a relatively familiar innovation to many Americans, it was still new in the larger scale of the Industrial Revolution (The World's Columbian Exposition). Thus to the fair's visitors, the nightly lighting of the Fairgrounds could still have inspired a reverent fascination. Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Edison did not invent the electric light bulb. He did, however, develop an incandescent bulb that made the earlier, impractical forms of the light bulb practical for home use. According to an online biography, "after one and a half years of work, success was achieved when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread burned for thirteen and a half hours. The first public demonstration of Edison's incandescent lighting system was in December 1879, when the Menlo Park laboratory complex was electrically lighted." The electric light bulb was marketed well from its inception. Not only did Tesla's alternating-current lighting system enthrall spectators at the 1893 World's Fair (see the picture at left), but Edison knew how to capture a customer base by hurrying to install power stations in many of the world's major cities as soon as his system was developed. He laid the groundwork for a station in New York City in 1881, only a few years after his modification of the light bulb. At the same time, he was working on plans to install grids in London and Paris (Cashman 19). Like Hank Morgan in sixth-century Britain, Edison knew how important it was to corner a previously untouched market as quickly as he could. Also like Hank, Edison lived to see his efforts pay off ... for a time. Articles New York Times December 23, 1888: "An Electric Light Trust" December 25, 1888: "They Are Not to Combine" Periodicals Century Magazine, "Recent Improvements and Inventions," June 1884 Back to Inventions of Widespread Use