s120

COMMON WEALTH EDISON COMPANY

State - Illinois

Color - Green

Size - 12in x 8in

Printed by Security-Columbian Banknote Co.

A little history:

The earliest predecessor of Commonwealth Edison was the Isolated Lighting Company, established in early 1881 by George H. Bliss as a subsidiary of Thomas Edisons company to sell small Edison-patented generators and lighting systems, each serving one building or several nearby buildings. In 1882, this company was taken over by the Western Edison Light Company, which was chartered by several prominent Chicagoans to not only take over Isolated Lighting's role as Edison's agent in Chicago, but also to develop a central station electric system. Western Edison installed the first incandescent lighting in a Chicago home, that of stockholder John W. Doane, in 1882, and it was first lit on November 10 of that year.

In March, 1887, John M. Clark (president of Western Edison), Robert Todd Lincoln, and John B. Drake obtained a franchise from Chicago to distribute electricity in the downtown area, bounded by North Avenue, 39th Street, and Ashland Avenue. They then formed the Chicago Edison Company, which took over all of Western Edison's business on July 2, 1887. Chicago Edison's first central generating station, designed by chief engineer Frederick Sargent, opened at 139 (later 120) West Adams Street in August, 1888.This first station was intended to serve an area bounded by Harrison Street, Market Street and Water Street (both now Wacker Drive), and Michigan Avenue, and served this area with an Edison-patented direct current system until it closed in 1914 or 1915.

SPECIMEN - 

No certificates are accepted unseen from a printer. No matter how much checking has been done, there is always the chance of a typographical error creeping in and causing untold financial damage to the issuer. For this reason, prior to final printing a small quantity of "specimen" certificates will be produced by the printer for final verification. These items will usually be clearly marked "specimens" either by means of overprint or perforated cancellations holes. In some cases they can be further identified by a "0000" serial number.

Free shipping on this item in the US.  Click the vault below to visit my eBay STORE, with lots of BUY IT NOW items!