True Dakotan,
I enjoyed the article that Duke wrote in The True Dakotan about the 100th anniversary of the old City Light Plant at the north end of town, and I would like to add a brief history of the City’s Light Plant.
The first light plant in the city was a feed mill that was located where the south parking lot of the Opera House is now. It was owned by R. A. Bushnell.
In 1907 businesses on Main Street wanted electric street lights. Mr. Bushnell obtained from the city council a franchise to operate an electric light system in Wessington Springs. The power was furnished from the generator in his feed mill.
Over the next few years more electric lights and appliances were put in houses and businesses in the city, and Mr. Bushnell’s generator would fail — and he would not upgrade to a bigger generator.
In 1914 the city purchased the feed mill and installed a bigger generator and started the Wessington Springs Power and Light Company.
Over the years, more electric load were added in the city until bigger generators and a bigger building to house them was needed. That’s when, in 1923, the City Light Plant that Duke was talking about in his article was built. Bigger diesel generators were installed and the city ran the plant full time until May of 1959 when the city contracted to buy hydro electric power from the Ft. Randall Dam on the Missouri River.
Today, the city buys electric power from two companies, Western Area Power Administration and Heartland Energy. The electric power we receive comes from hydro electric generators from the dams on the Missouri River, a coal fired generator near Hastings, Nebraska, and wind generators located south of Wessington Springs. We also have two diesel generators in town that are used in emergencies and can be used as peaking generators when needed.
The picture above is two of three generators that were in the plant when it was shut down.
Roger Larson Wessington Springs