International Electrotechnical Exhibition

The 1891 International Electrotechnical Exhibition was held between 16 May and 19 October on the disused site of the three former Westbahnhöfe (Western Railway Stations) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

The exhibition featured the first long-distance transmission of high-power, three-phase electric current, which was generated 175 km away at Lauffen am Neckar.

The "Elektrotechnische Gesellschaft" (Electrotechnical Society) was founded in Frankfurt in 1881 with the aim of promoting electricity and, in particular, furthering research into its application for industry and technology.

Prompted by the Paris "Exposition Universelle" (World Fair) of 1889, Leopold Sonnemann, publisher of the Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper, interested the Electrotechnical Society in the idea of an exhibition.

As far as Germany was concerned, the International Electrotechnical Exhibition settled once and for all the question of the most economical means of transmitting electrical energy.

The Frankfurt city council constructed its own power station near the harbour; yet another was built by a private company in the suburb of Bockenheim.

The transmission line was erected with the assistance of the German Post Office and used about 60 tonnes of copper wire, 4 mm in diameter.