TEPCO, later EPB, building at Sixth and Market. Click to enlarge.
TEPCO home economist doing a demonstration. Click to enlarge.
TEPCO load dispatchers kept the system operational. Click to enlarge.
TEPCO operators took calls from customers. Click to enlarge.
TEPCO report to stockholders. Click to enlarge.
On Monday, October 23, 2006, the Electric Power Board moved into a new office building at the corner of Market Street and West M.L. King Boulevard. The company ended sixty-seven years at its familiar corner of Sixth and Market streets. However, that old building housed electric company employees for eighty-two years. Why the discrepancy?
The answer can be traced to the noble mule. That’s right, the mule, the puller of plows in rural areas, and of streetcars in urban areas. In 1889, enterprising entrepreneurs were electrified at the prospects of replacing animal-drawn cars with motorized vehicles. The Chattanooga Electric Street Railroad Company eventually took off. However, its inaugural trip stalled halfway up the hill on Seventh Street.
Over the next several decades, the Chattanooga area’s demand for electricity continued to increase. The Chattanooga and Tennessee River Power Company began work in 1905 on the Hales Bar Dam in the Tennessee River Gorge. The company brought power into Chattanooga at a substation building that today overlooks the First Tennessee Pavilion and Finley Stadium.
In 1910, the Eastern Tennessee Power Company started work on a dam and power house on the Ocoee River. Its power was first relayed to Chattanooga in 1912, and work was begun on a second Ocoee power plant and flume later that year. Today, whitewater rafting on the Ocoee depends on whether the water is in the river or behind the dams or in those flumes.
In 1922, the Tennessee Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, was formed through the consolidation of the aforementioned companies. At a shareholder meeting in New York City, Chattanooga was selected as the site of TEPCO’s headquarters. TEPCO eventually gained control of the Lookout Incline Railway Company and other electric-related businesses.
TEPCO’s service area grew to include most of middle and eastern Tennessee. According to the January 26, 1924 Chattanooga Times, the company added nearly 9,000 customers during 1923, bringing its total to 59,000. That same year, TEPCO moved into a new eight-story, $360,000 building on the northeast corner of Sixth and Market. The James Hall, later called the Lyric Theater, was torn down to make way for TEPCO.
The firm, with its motto “At Your Service,” had been preparing for its move for some time. A January 9, 1924 advertisement in the Times said, “Everything goes. January clearance sale. 10 – 25% off all electric appliances; $5.00 for old vacuums.” That was followed on January 13 with “The Transfer Man Hates this Moving Sales – ranges, 10% off; lamps, 25%.” By January 20, the advertisement read, “Tomorrow and thereafter, you will find sales, bookkeeping, and public service at The Power Building, first floor.”
The public was invited to an open house on Saturday, January 26, 1924. The exterior differed from its present look in a few ways. There were arched windows inside rectangular frames above the front entrance. A large “Tennessee Electric Power Company” sign hung from a scaffold atop the building.
Inside, the first floor had some of the same departments which were there for many years. New customers opened accounts in the sales department to the right, or paid their bills at stations to the left.
The Times reported that the offices were finished in mahogany trim with oak floors and Tennessee marble door step. The halls were paved in terrazzo, a combination of marble and cement, for durability. As a forerunner of modern office design, the building had wires concealed behind baseboards. To accommodate changes to office size, hardware flooring covered the entire floor, with partitions erected on top of it.
Sidewalk display windows beckoned shoppers to stop in and see the latest in electric appliances. There were clothes washers, ironing machines, and electric hair curlers. Seemingly ahead of their time for 1924, there were ranges which could turn on automatically at preset times.
TEPCO employed a staff of home economists who could demonstrate the appliances either at the company office, or in customers’ homes. To minimize downtime caused by outages, TEPCO also employed a large staff of field technicians. All TEPCO employees could take part on one of the company’s athletic teams, and stayed in touch with corporate news and the corporate family through a company publication.
The stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression caused public debate on how well the private electric utilities had been serving the nation’s interests. Some saw the benefits brought by electric power as a public good. Their opinion was that the government should intervene to ensure that all citizens, even those in rural areas not served by private utilities such as TEPCO, should have electricity.
The creation of the Tennessee Valley Authority, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, was seen as a way to resolve the unevenness of access to electric power. TVA was also chartered to deliver the public goods of flood control, reduction of erosion, improvement of navigation, and national defense.
The debate over public versus private control of power generation and distribution continued through the 1930’s. In 1935, Chattanoogans voted for the creation of the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, which was made an agency of the city through a charter amendment. Meanwhile, TEPCO and other private companies took their case against TVA to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1938. By a vote of 5-2, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case. The political debate over what things should be considered to be public goods continues to this day.
In 1939, the Tennessee Valley Authority purchased many of the power-producing sites of TEPCO. The systems to distribute electricity were sold to various cities and cooperatives. The sale of TEPCO resulted in a large settlement for its investors. The Chattanooga Free Press reported in a banner headline on August 1, 1939 “DEAL TO RELEASE MILLIONS.”
The company whose predecessor companies had taken Chattanooga from mule-drawn streetcars to auto-timer electric ranges ceased operation on August 15, 1939. The Electric Power Board opened for business in the former TEPCO office building, and served customers for sixty-seven years at that address.
Many things change over time, but it’s good to know that some favorites remain with us. The EPB has long been known for its whimsical display windows at Christmas. Last week, I was pleased to see some “Elves at Work” signs on its windows at its new home. I hope that’s what I read. If it said, “Elvis at Work, “please forgive me, and uh… thank you very much.
If you have information on TEPCO or the EPB, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.
Thanks, as always, to the staff of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library for their assistance. This time, thanks to Jim, for the help with the photos.