Hartford Electric Light Company

Its former corporate headquarters building and main facility are in the Ann Street Historic District.

[2] It began actual operations of the steam-powered electrical generating plant on Pearl Street in 1882.

[3] The first major project the company did was electrical lighting to the Asylum Street railroad station in 1883.

HELCO ultimately made Hartford the first city in America with an all-electric street lighting system.

[6] HELCO constructed in 1899 a dam on the Farmington River at Tariffville, which is on the edge of the town of Simsbury, Connecticut.

The two electrical generator plants were located on the Farmington river about twelve miles from Hartford.

At that time they served Hartford and the surrounding area of about two hundred and fifty square miles.

[9] HELCO was the first company in America to use a steam turbine for a public utility to generate electricity.

HELCO was the first electric company in the United States to transmit three-phase alternating current at high voltage for long distances.

The innovation made it possible to collect and store water power energy that would have gone unused during low demand periods.

HELCO's president received patents for an electrical radiator to heat water and an ice-making machine.