# The first electric city? 731 incandescent lamps, 59 kilometres of cable and a Viennese company — the story of the night Timișoara became the first city in Europe with entirely electrically illuminated streets, and of the asterisk it deserves. Answer: Yes — with an asterisk. On 12 November 1884 Timișoara switched on a complete electric system at the scale of the whole city: 731 incandescent lamps, 59 kilometres of cable. The earlier attempts — Godalming, Nuremberg, Berlin — had been tiny networks, isolated streets or arc lamps; Timișoara was the first fully lit city. ## The gas town (1857–1882) Timișoara had known street light for over a century, but the light came from Austrian gas — until the contract ran out. In 1857, Temesvár received public gas lighting; in 1867 the horse trams arrived. The city was growing, and the gas lanterns — supplied by an Austrian company — had become natural sights on the streets of the Cetate and the suburbs. But the gas contract had an expiry date — and in 1882 the city had to choose: extend it, or try something else. Mayor Török János, whom local history calls the “father” of electric street lighting, refused the extension and accepted the Anglo-Austrian company's offer: electric light for every street. > The chief magistrate abandoned the extension of the contract with the Austrian company for aerial gas lighting and accepted the offer from the Anglo-Austrian Electrical Company Ltd. > — Visit Timișoara, on the 1882 decision ## The contract (1882–1884) On 15 December 1882, the city bets on a Viennese company and two new words: electric light. On 15 December 1882, the city signs the concession contract with the Anglo-Austrian Brush Electrical Company Ltd. for the electric lighting of the streets. St. George Lane Fox, the engineer working with the Vienna Brush company, joins the works. The works take less than two years: a network of 59 kilometres of cable, hundreds of poles and lamps, dynamos to feed them all. In the press of the day, the Temesvár site counts as one of the earliest and most extensive street electrifications in Europe. > One of the earliest and most extensive uses of electric street lighting in Europe. > — Grace's Guide, on Temesvár 1882–1884 ## The night (12 November 1884) 731 lamps, 59 kilometres of cable, a single evening: 12 November 1884. On the evening of 12 November 1884, 731 incandescent lamps with carbon filaments are switched on, fed through 59 kilometres of cable. Not a trial street, not a festive square: the whole city, all at once. The magazine Luminătorul, in issue 76 of 22 September – 4 October 1884, had managed to describe the new light before the great switch-on — a light “almost identical to the glow of the moon”, which does not tire the eye but “somewhat sweetens it”. > The light of the electric lamp is powerful and far surpasses that of the gas flame; the light is altogether gentle, almost identical to the glow of the moon, not only does it not disturb the eye's vision, but it also somewhat sweetens it. > — Luminătorul, no. 76, 22 September – 4 October 1884 (as quoted in English) ## What kind of “first”? (1881–1884) Godalming, Nuremberg and Berlin complicate the story — which is exactly why it deserves telling to the end. “The first electric city in Europe” is said quickly and proved with difficulty: Godalming had lit a public network back in 1881, Nuremberg had lit a street in 1882, and Berlin had switched on 36 arc lamps on 20 September 1882. The difference lies in scale and kind: Timișoara was the first city with entirely electrically illuminated streets — a complete, city-wide system of incandescent lamps. Not Europe's first spark, but its first whole city switched on. > 36 arc lamps, which lit Leipziger Strasse from Friedrichstrasse to Potsdamer Platz. > — Energie-Museum Berlin, on 20 September 1882 (editors' translation) ## The lighting map, 1884 - Lamps lit on 12 November 1884: 731 - Kilometres of cable: 59 - Kind of lamps: incandescent, carbon filament - Builder: Anglo-Austrian Brush, Vienna - Duration of the works: under two years - Current (after a single source): direct, 110 V - Godalming 1881 — the whole network: 31 - Berlin 1882 — Leipziger Strasse: 36 - Timișoara 1884 — the whole city: 731 ## “The first electric city in Europe” — True, with an asterisk So they say, and it is nearly so: on 12 November 1884 Timișoara was the first city in Europe with entirely electrically illuminated streets — a complete system at the scale of the whole city, with incandescent lamps. The asterisk: Godalming (1881), Nuremberg (1882) and Berlin (20 September 1882) had lit electric lights earlier — but a tiny network, a single street, and 36 arc lamps respectively. Timișoara was not the first spark; it was the first whole city. ## “There were 300 lamps, then 731” — Unconfirmed Some accounts mention 300 lamps that supposedly grew to 731. In the sources inspected for this page, the figure of 300 appears nowhere: all give 731 lamps on 12 November 1884. Until proven otherwise, 300 remains an unconfirmed figure — and the page does not use it. ## “Edison lit Timișoara” — False Not Edison, but Brush: the network was built by the Anglo-Austrian Brush Electrical Company of Vienna, with St. George Lane Fox on the team, and finished in under two years. The confusion is understandable — Edison dominated the press of the day — but the contract of 15 December 1882 bears another name. ## Sources and method - Gas street lighting in Temesvár from 1857; horse trams from 1867 - In 1882 the city drops the extension with the Austrian aerial-gas company and accepts the Anglo-Austrian offer; mayor Török János - Timișoara, the first city in the Habsburg Empire with street lighting, 1760 - Pearl Street station, New York, 4 September 1882: the first permanent commercial station in the US - 15 December 1882: the concession contract with the Anglo-Austrian Brush Electrical Company Ltd. for electric lighting - 1882–1884: Lane Fox and the Vienna-based Anglo Austrian Brush company electrify the lighting of the whole town of Temesvár; completed 1884 - The system completed in less than two years by the Anglo-Austrian Brush Electrical Company, Vienna - Berlin, 20 September 1882: 36 arc lamps on Leipziger Strasse to Potsdamer Platz - 12 November 1884: 731 incandescent carbon-filament lamps on 59 km of cable - Luminătorul no. 76 (22 September – 4 October 1884) on the new lamp's light (quoted via Visit Timișoara) - Temesvár 1884: direct current, 110 V - 12 July 1889: electric supply for the tramways begins - Godalming 1881: the first public supply — 4 arc and 27 incandescent lamps, at small scale - Nuremberg 1882: Schuckert; the first street with electric light in Germany - The 1882 street lighting of Leipziger Strasse and Potsdamer Platz (Siemens chronology) - Late-19th-century quarters: Cetate, Fabric, Elisabetin, Iosefin; Elisabetin named 1890, Mehala incorporated 1910 - The map is schematic (own drawing); quarter shapes are illustrative, not cadastral - The per-street and per-quarter split of the 731 lamps: undocumented in the inspected sources - The game starts from the documented scale (0 → 731 lamps); rounds and gains are game rules, not history